The HPA has established long-term smoking behavior monitoring systems to determine the effectiveness of its tobacco control work. These include “Adult Smoking Behavior Survey,” “Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS),” and “Nicotine, Tar and Carbon Monoxide Content of Tobacco Products Monitoring.” In 2019, the HPA also studied the effectiveness of its smoking cessation services, tobacco product composition reports, media promotion evaluation, tobacco product information inspection, evaluation of efficacy of law execution and policy assessment.

       A “Tobacco Product Testing and Research Program” has been adopted. In all, a total of 57 tests have been carried out to determine the nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide content in the main smoke stream of 57 domestic and imported cigarettes as well as the amounts of 50 different heavy metals and nitrosamine contents. The test results for all sampled tobacco products reveal that the nicotine and tar contents of 8 smuggled and 2 inferior tobacco products exceed the maximum amounts stipulated in the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act. In addition, the indicated values on 4 tobacco product containers exceed the allowable error range of the test values and have therefore been forwarded to local health bureaus for investigations.

       The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) calls for the disclosure of information on websites on toxic ingredients (including additives) of tobacco products and emissions when smoked. In Taiwan, tobacco manufacturers and importers have been required to comply with these regulations and relevant provisions of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act since 2009. As of 2019, a total of 328 businesses had submitted filings on 7,187 tobacco products. Through the new “Tobacco Information Declaration System,” tobacco suppliers can upload the “publicly-declared information” on websites, disclosing the composition of tobacco products and providing the pubic with real time information. From April 2010 when the website was established to 2019, a total of 226,563 people browsed the website, with 17,527 people in 2019.