Georgia’s Parliament passed comprehensive new legislation to reduce tobacco use in May 2017 – to ensure all enclosed public spaces are 100 percent smoke-free; introduce plain tobacco packaging; ban all forms of tobacco advertising; protect health policymaking from any tobacco industry influence and ban ‘drive-through’ tobacco sales outlets.
It also undertook pioneering work to reform tobacco taxes – the most powerful measure for reducing tobacco use – using a ground-breaking multi-stakeholder approach. Ministries of health, finance and agriculture worked together towards the common goal of reducing tobacco use.