Dr. Manuja Perera, Editor of Centre for Combating Tobacco, was invited to do a presentation on the Current Implementation Status of the TAPS Ban in Sri Lanka to the National Council for Noncommunicable Diseases chaired by the Hon. Minister of Health, Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa on 24th October 2025. In her presentation, she highlighted the need to strengthen the implementation of already existing National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA Act) regulations on TAPS, demonstrating examples from recent movies screened in Sri Lanka. She also stressed the importance of implementing the FCTC Article 5.3 – based Code of Conduct for public officials to support and strengthen enforcement of NATA Act.
NCD Council comprises of representatives from all the health and non-health stakeholders related to control of Noncommunicable Diseases in Sri Lanka. The meeting was held at the auditorium of the Ministry of Health in Colombo. Other than the Hon Minister of Health, Secretary/Health, Director General of Health Services, Deputy Director General of Health Services (NCD), Director/NCD, National Programme Managers of NCD Directorate, NATA Chairperson, Director and Programme Officers of the National Cancer Control Programme, other Ministry of Health officials, officials of Ministries of Mass Media, Education, Sports and Youth Affairs and representatives from professional colleges, academia, non-governmental organizations and UN organizations attended the meeting.