Recommendation Guiding Principles for the Development of Tobacco Product Research and Testing Capacity and Proposed Protocols for the Initiation of Tobacco Product Testing

This recommendation is the sixth in a series of recommendations formulated by the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg).1 The purpose of this recommendation is to promulgate the principles that should guide the development of the laboratory capacity required to enable implementation of Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the initiation of tobacco product testing. Such laboratory capacity provides government regulatory authorities with the means to guide and validate tobacco product testing, including any testing that may be carried out by the tobacco industry itself. The considerations and principles discussed in this recommendation are intended to provide guidance for establishing laboratory capacity that meets the highest standards of excellence, transparency, reliability and credibility.2 The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control includes three articles that lay the groundwork for the regulation of the contents, disclosures, and packaging and labelling of tobacco products (1). They are: • Article 9: Regulation of the contents of tobacco products • Article 10: Regulation of tobacco product disclosures • Article 11: Packaging and labelling of tobacco products.