The article 5.3 Guidelines provide a range of preventive actions governments can take to Tprotect their tobacco control policies from being undermined by commercial and vested interests of the industry and also by entities working on its behalf. The governments require continuous information about the activities and practices of the industries to ensure the transparency and accountability of the industry’s actions. As shown in Figure 14, countries like Ethiopia, Chad, Uganda and Botswana have preventive measures in place to guide officials in their interaction with the tobacco industry.

As shown in Table 5, 10 out of the 17 countries, including Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, do not have any procedure in place for disclosing the records of the interaction with tobacco industry. In countries like Nigeria and Botswana, even though procedures exist, these are not yet in force or implemented.

In Nigeria, although the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 says that the Minister of Health shall prescribe such measures, this has not happened.

In Kenya, Tobacco Control Regulations 2014 Section 22 states that “Any public officer participating in any interaction with tobacco industry shall prepare a formal record of the interaction and submit to the relevant public authorities including the Cabinet Secretary on request,” However, there is no implementing procedure in place to enforce this. A code of conduc t for public officials, prescribing the standards in their dealings with the tobacco industry exists in countries like Chad (chapters 2 and 3 of the Decree 1523 on the Prevention of Interference by the Tobacco Industry), Ethiopia (tobacco control directives that emanate from Proclamation 1112/2019),
and Nigeria (Sections 27 and 28 of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015). In Ethiopia, the EFDA has developed and implemented the code.

In some countries, although no specific code of conduct exists, efforts are being made through other initiatives to prescribe standards for the dealings of public officials with the tobacco industry.

In Burkina Faso, despite the nonexistence of a code of conduct to
guide public official sintheir interaction with the tobacco industry, the draft decree on the prevention of tobacco industry interference in public health policies provides a framework for interactions between the tobacco industry and public officials.

In the same vein, in Cote d’Ivoire, a decree on the implementation of article 5.3 is already drafted by the Ministry in charge of Health as part of the programming of priority legal texts to be analyzed by the government this year 2023 (Source Ministry).

The tobacco control law in Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Botswana, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana, compels the industry to periodically submit information on production, manufacture, market share, marketing expenditures, revenues, and any other activity. In Chad, article 10 of Decree 1523 on the prevention of interference by the tobacco industry lists the information to be provided in the semi-annual reports sent by the tobacco industry to the ministries involved in tobacco control.

In Cote d’Ivoire, law No. 2019-676 of 23 July 2019 on tobacco control in Côte d’Ivoire in Article 5 states that “Manufacturers and importers of tobacco products have the obligation to communicate annually to the Ministry in charge of Health any information relating to the quality, quantity, composition and emissions of tobacco products”. However, despite this provision, tobacco companies fail to comply.

In Botswana, the Act is yet in force, thus pose a challenge to the country’s compliance with the WHO FCTC requirements.
As summarized in Table 5, programs to consistently raise awareness within its departments on policies relating to FCTC Article 5.3 Guidelines exist in only one country, Ethiopia. Using several means of communication including workshops, media forums and press releases, the EFDA make public officials and the population aware about tobacco control. Further, EFDA works collaboratively with civil society organizations, the World Health Organization, and other partners to enhance its effort on awareness raising activity. There are however, concerns of limited awareness of Article 5.3 among other government agencies who may support or form partnerships with the tobacco industry in Ethiopia In other countries, such as Ghana, although the government do not have a program/system/plan to consistently raise awareness within its departments on policies relating to Article 5.3, CSOs led by VALD Ghana in collaboration with some government entities like the FDA carry out
general awareness including education on the FCTC Article 5.3.

For instance, in Kenya, Proclamation 1112/2019 state.