Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax: government guidelines & recommendations
Childhood Obesity Plan: A Plan for Action, Chapter 2
This updated version of the 2016 Childhood Obesity Plan proposes actions to ensure that by working together across society, we can improve the nutritional content of the food and drink our children consume, strengthen the information available to parents about those products and change the way that unhealthy food and sugary drinks are promoted. See more.
A Healthier Future: Scotland's Diet & Healthy Weight Delivery Plan
Recognising the specific need to tackle weight-related issues at an early stage, this delivery plan also has an ambition to halve child obesity in Scotland by 2030 and significantly reduce health inequalities. See more.
Evidence brief for policy: Reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their negative health impact in Estonia
The brief looks at four selected policy options to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and their negative health effects. It focuses on children, as beverage preferences and consumption patterns develop early in childhood and can persist over time. See more.
Tackling NCDs: “Best buys” and other recommended interventions in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
This document provides policymakers with a list of ‘best buys’ and other recommended interventions to address non-communicable diseases. A list of options is presented for selected risk factors for non-communicable diseases and disease areas. See more.
Soft Drinks Industry Levy
In effect since April 2018, the levy applies to the production and importation of soft drinks containing added sugar. It encourages manufacturers of sugar-sweetened beverages to follow two recommendations. See more.
Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases in the WHO European Region
The Action Plan focuses on five priority action areas and interventions to achieve regional and global targets to reduce premature mortality, reduce the disease burden, improve the quality of life and make healthy life expectancy more equitable. See more.
A Healthy Weight for Ireland: Obesity and Action Plan 2016-2025
This Plan specifically highlights the economic and societal benefits of protecting and maintaining health, preventing illness, and intervening early. The Government’s commitment to preventing overweight and obesity is structured as “Ten Steps Forward.” See more.
Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action
This report sets out the findings and assessment of the evidence-based actions to reduce sugar consumption. It first considers the need for action, the health issues associated with this and the benefits in reducing our intakes. See more.
Fiscal policies for Diet and Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases
This is a report based off a World Health Organisation expert technical meeting on 5-6 May 2015 in Geneva. The main objectives of the meeting were to review evidence and existing guidance, discuss country case studies and provide considerations with regards to the scope, design and implementation of effective fiscal policies on diet. See more.
Using price policies to promote healthier diets
This publication provides information on the use of price policies to promote healthy diets and explores policy developments from around the World Health Organisation European Region. It examines the economic theory underpinning the use of subsidies and taxation and explores the currently available evidence. See more.
Guidelines: Sugar intake for adults and children
The objective of this guideline is to provide recommendations on the intake of free sugars to reduce the risk of NCDs in adults and children, with a particular focus on the prevention and control of unhealthy weight gain and dental caries. See more.
European Food and Nutrition Action Plan 2015-2020
The intention of the Action Plan is to significantly reduce the burden of preventable diet-related non-communicable diseases, obesity and all other forms of malnutrition still prevalent in the World Health Organisation European Region. One of the objectives of the Action Plan consists on creating healthy food and drinks environments through a set of actions and tools. See more.
Second International Conference on Nutrition: Conference Outcome Document: Rome Declaration on Nutrition
The Declaration commits countries to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide – particularly undernutrition in children, anaemia in women and children, among other micronutrient deficiencies – as well as reverse the trend in obesity. It aims to do this by increasing investments in food systems to improve people’s diets and nutrition. See more.
Second International Conference on Nutrition: Framework for Action
The purpose of this Framework for Action is to guide the implementation of the commitments of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition. Composed of 60 recommendations, the Framework for Action provides a set of policy and programme options to create an enabling environment and to improve nutrition in all sectors. See more.
EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020
The purpose of thie EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity is to demonstrate the shared commitment of EU Member States to addressing childhood obesity. See more.
Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases 2013-2020
The Global Action Plan provides Member States, international partners and the World Health Organisation with a road map and menu of policy options which will contribute to progress on nine global non-communicable disease targets to be attained in 2025. See more.
Health 2020: A European policy framework and strategy for the 21st century
Health 2020 focuses on improving health for all and reducing health inequalities, through improved leadership and governance for health. Health 2020 presents the social and economic imperative for action, showing clearly that health and well-being are important and essential for economic and social development. See more.
Global nutrition policy review: What does it take to scale up nutrition action?
This Global Nutrition Policy Review provided information on whether the countries have nutrition policies and programmes, how they are being implemented, what the implementation coverage is, who the stakeholders are, what the coordination mechanism is, and how the monitoring and evaluation are being implemented. See more.
Prioritising areas for action in the field of population-based prevention of childhood obesity: A set of tools for Member States to determine and identify priority areas for action
The purpose of this document is to provide a set of tools for Member States to determine and identify priority areas for action in the field of population-based prevention of childhood obesity. See more.
Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A call to action on obesity in England
The serious nature of the challenge of obesity calls for a new level of ambition as well as a new direction. The Department of Health sets out two national ambitions that will call for a distinctive, new approach with four main components. See more.
Soft Drink Taxes: A Policy Brief
This brief offers policy recommendations regarding tax considerations, public health message, use of the revenue as well as other considerations. See more.
In 2020, the Polish government announced that it would be implementing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax on drinks that contain sweetening properties and/or caffeine, including alcoholic drinks (up to 300 ml). The government has opted for a non-uniform tax, with the percentage being determined by the sugar content present in 100ml of a product, or the alcohol content. The fiscal policy was introduced to curb the rising levels of overweight and obesity. In Poland, two-thirds of the population is living with the diseasing, putting their health at risk. The tax came into force at the beginning of 2021 to reduce the consumption of SSB and encourage users to purchase beverages with lower sugar content. There were assumptions that the additional charge was a ‘surcharge’ as opposed to a ‘tax’ causing public concern.
