Introduction:
Funding tobacco control activities in Poland up to 2017 was legally based on the Art 4 of the Act on the Protection of Public Health against the Effects of Tobacco Use of November 9th, 1995. The Act established “programme outlining health, economic and social policies aimed at reducing tobacco use” which working name is The Programme on Reducing Health Consequences of Tobacco Smoking (PRHCTS).

Material and Methods:
The subject of the analysis was the The PRHCTS in years 2000-2017. The documents describing the programme were compared with the guidelines for health policy program (HPP) developed by the Agency for Health Technology Assessment in Poland (AHTAPol) and the Article 12th of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Additionally, the financial analysis of spendings on the programme was performed.

Results:
The PRHCTS in years 2000-2017 did not comply with the AHTAPol guidelines as well as with the Article 12th of the WHO FCTC. The programme did not have indicators which could stimulate effectiveness. Furthermore, the PRHCTS was heavily underfinanced. The spendings on tobacco control in recent years did not exceed 1% of value indicated in the law.

Discussion:
Although Poland achieved significant reduction in daily smoking prevalence among people aged 15+ from 33% 1999 to 24% in 2015 the recent report of the Polish Supreme Audit Office states that PRHCTS does not result in change in smoking rate and does not prevent worsening in age structure of smokers.

Conclusions:
The Tobacco Control Programme in Poland was not created, conducted and financed in an effective way. That could result in slower change in smoking rates and can be seen as a missed opportunity in fighting tobacco use.