Project Title:” Building Supportive Environment for the Enforcement of Effective Tobacco Control Tax and Price Measures in Georgia”. Bloomberg Philanthropies; International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, 01.03.2015 – 31.07.2016.

Project Summary

a) Project Objectives:      

Purpose of the project is to create supportive environment for enforcement of the effective tax and price measures in Georgia;

Objective 1: Revised taxation policy drafted and approved by the MoH and submitted to the MoF for adoption;

Objective 2: Working group partners, stakeholders raise the need for an effective taxation policy based on the NAP and relevant EU directives.

b) Project implementation:      

• To create and support the working group composed of health, finance and economy ministries and tax experts to elaborate a document on situational analysis and modelling of various tax increases, impact on price, revenues, risks and measures;

• To organize a series of roundtable meetings with policy and decision makers for discussing necessary policy changes;

• To develop, Print and distribute policy fact sheets for decision makers on WHO FCTC article 6 and European Union (EU) directive on tobacco taxation (in the light of Georgia Association Agreement with the EU) and its benefits for the country economy and health of the population;

• To translate into Georgian and print Articles 6 and 5.3 guidelines, Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products and EU directives on tobacco taxation for distribution among decision makers and their teams;

• To organize awareness raising meetings with key decision makers from Georgia and internationally on the issues of high tobacco tax benefits on health and economy;

• To develop, print and distribute communication and promotional materials for civil society and media about high tobacco tax benefits on health and economy;

• To conduct 2 to 3 day trainings for civil society organizations and regional public health units in order to increase their capacity and sensitize them on tobacco taxation issues;

• To organize half day to full day awareness raising sessions with media representatives for making the process transparent and clear for all stakeholders and beneficiaries who will directly contribute towards the debate;

• To organize World No Tobacco Day and other International events.

c) Expected results:        

• document on situational analysis and modelling of various tax increases, impact on price, revenues, health outcomes, risks and mechanisms of their control; submitted to the Ministry of Finance;

• Guidelines and Protocols translated into Georgian;

• Media representatives, civil society and regional public health units trained.