Background:
Tobacco industry interference weakens public health policy across the globe. It is important to monitor tobacco industry activities to strengthen defence.

Objective:
To assess the influence of tobacco industry companies on the government’s public health policies in Poland.

Methods:
This study makes an assessment of the intensity, frequency, and severity of incidents of tobacco industry interference reported in Poland in 2020 and the government’s response to these incidents. The research is based on a questionnaire developed by SEATCA for its Tobacco Industry Interference Index (TIII) and scoring guidelines. To complete TIII of 20 indicators under seven key themes for Poland, five reviewers separately searched for evidence. This report was written by a scoping review of: the legal basis, Polish media websites, the Polish government and local government websites, and social media of tobacco industry companies.

Results:
Tobacco companies had an impact on the act on excise duty and certain other acts (Ustawa o zmianie ustawy o podatku akcyzowym oraz niektórych innych ustaw), they took part in discussions and their proposals were taken into account. This act was signed by the President of Poland on 8 April 2021. Tobacco industry received a tax delay on e-cigarette liquids in 2020. The delay in introducing the tax coincided with the presidential election. The government cooperates with the tobacco industry in obtaining data concerning illegal tobacco trade. The tobacco industry contracts research companies to research this topic and passes the data on to the government.

Conclusions:
The results of the study suggest that tobacco companies have a considerable impact on public health policies. In Poland, which currently has no specific regulation constraining tobacco industry lobbying, implementation of the provisions of WHO FCTC Article 5.3 is needed to limit interactions between the government and the tobacco industry, ensure transparency of such interactions, and foremost, denormalize tobacco industry interference with policymaking. Government should be independent from the tobacco industry when it comes to illegal tobacco trade analyses.