In December 2005 Lebanon ratified the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) with little fanfare by the government and no coverage by the local media, and so far it seems that the tobacco industry is behaving just as it did before (Tobacco Control 2006;15:80–1).

While the tobacco industry remains under the control of a government monopoly, the Regie—which has the exclusive right to import/export local tobacco products and issue licences to tobacco growers—competition …