Guidance under the Tobacco Act

This page includes information on guidance under the Tobacco Act. General guidance and direction under the Tobacco Act and its regulations are the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Valvira is tasked with guiding the Regional State Administrative Agencies and municipalities to handle their responsibilities under the Tobacco Act, as well as preparing the national Tobacco Act guidance programme.

Environmental healthcare

Environmental healthcare is tasked with securing a healthy environment for humans by reducing, removing or preventing health risks. Environmental healthcare includes the monitoring of the Tobacco Act, the Health Protection Act and the Food Act as well as animal healthcare. National guidance under the Tobacco Act and the Health Protection Act is the responsibility of Valvira. The highest responsibility and guidance for environmental healthcare is divided to the fields of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Further information on environmental healthcare is available on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health website.

The central agencies, i.e. Valvira and the Finnish Food Authority, prepare the national environmental monitoring programme. This monitoring programme determines the shared policies for the various sectors’ monitoring programmes as well as for the monitoring of municipal supervisory authorities of environmental healthcare.

National Tobacco Act monitoring programme

Valvira’s responsibilities include the creation of a national Tobacco Act monitoring programme. The monitoring programme takes into account the shared goals set forth in the monitoring programme for environmental healthcare.

The goal of the Tobacco Act monitoring programme is to guide and coordinate the execution of the monitoring. The monitoring programme unifies monitoring practices nationwide and promotes equality among operators regarding monitoring frequency and quality. The focus points of the monitoring help target monitoring resources effectively and systematically while advancing the objectives of the Tobacco Act.

The focus points of monitoring the execution of the Tobacco Act in 2022–2024 are product monitoring, monitoring of the marketing prohibition as well as support for self-monitoring, and cooperation with preventive substance abuse care.

Municipal monitoring plans

Municipal responsibilities include the creation of a monitoring plan for Tobacco Act compliance monitoring. Monitoring must be of a high quality, based on risks, and aim to prevent health risks.

The monitoring plan takes into account the national Tobacco Act monitoring programme with regards to local needs. The Regional State Administrative Agency assesses the monitoring plans of their region and how they are executed.