The terms of reference of the WHO collaborating centre for Tobacco Product Regulation and Control are jointly prepared with the regional WHO office and the technical unit concerned in headquarters. The centre is designated by the Director-General of WHO to form part of an international collaborative network set up by WHO in support of its programme at the country, intercountry, regional, interregional and global levels.
- To support WHO in its Tobacco Regulation work via TobLabNet to complete the required validation/verification work mandated by the COP to the WHO FCTC and in particular to provide training to support this work;
- To assist WHO in providing training and support in tobacco products testing, in particular to TobLabNet laboratories in countries with limited resources and capacity, as guided by WHO;
- To support the working plan of TobLabNet and provide advice as necessary, under the leadership of WHO;
- To support the testing of novel tobacco and related products such as new generation nicotine delivery systems and electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems on the international market, and provide policy guidance to WHO related to the test results and utilization of these results, as dictated by the needs of WHO;
- To support the implementation of Article 10 of the WHO FCTC with respect to the development of a global database for disclosure of information to the government and to the general public, under WHO’s leadership;
- To evaluate the effects of sugars and flavours in tobacco products, help in developing methods for testing and measuring flavours, under the guidance and leadership of WHO, and provide policy advice to WHO for their effective regulation.