Regulation of tobacco products in the broader sense, i.e. the production and trading of tobacco products, and stipulations on the locations where smoking is allowed and/or not allowed, are not a phenomenon of our time, but has been in operation on European soil for almost as long as tobacco has been consumed in Europe. As regulation is frequently associated with an intrusion into areas of daily life which are either protected or worthy of protection, and/or are of economic or fiscal significance, trade and industry associations and lobby groups have formed in European countries. Increasing internationalization of tobacco control policy Until the end of the 20th century, the control and regulation of the trade in tobacco products and their consumption have exclusively been a matter of the EU nation states.

The European Tobacco Wholesalers Association (E.T.V.) was established in 1973 as the representative body of the European tobacco wholesalers and operators of cigarette vending machines. Today, the E.T.V. represents national associations and companies in the tobacco wholesale sector in Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In addition to the tobacco-control efforts on the national level, the European Union has in the last two decades also reinforced its role as a regulator; a new challenge, which has also helped forged greater unity among the community of European tobacco wholesalers.