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Sugar-sweetened beverage tax implementation processes: results of a scoping review.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Reisch, Lucia Antonia Salome  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5731-4209
Meshkovska, Biljana 
Lobczowska, Karolina 
Scheller, Daniel Alexander 

Abstract

Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is seen as a win-win situation for governments. It is argued that SSB taxes are relatively easy to implement from a practical perspective compared to for example other nutrition policies. However, the implementation of SSB taxation laws does not happen by itself. Therefore, this work examines implementation processes for SSB taxation in terms of (1) pre-implementation context, (2) taxation instruments used and (3) interactions in the implementation process. Ten databases and grey literature were systematically searched for studies reporting on SSB taxation implementation processes up to February 2020. All studies (N = 1248) were screened independently by two reviewers according to predefined criteria. The selection of variables to be extracted was based on the policy cycle heuristic and informed by intervention implementation research. Information on the process of implementing SSB taxation is limited. Only six cases based on three publications were identified, indicating a gap in this research area. SSB taxation implementation was accomplished by hiring a subcontractor for the implementation or using pre-existing tax collection structures. Political and public support within the implementation process seems to be supportive for the city of Berkeley and for Portugal but was not reported for the Pacific Islands. However, the existing data are very limited, and further research on SSB taxation implementation processes is needed to determine whether the aim of the policy and the envisaged outcome are linked in practice. Registration The protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework (OSF) (osf.io/7w84q/).

Description

Funder: Joint Programming Initiative A healthy diet for a healthy life; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100013279

Keywords

Review, SSB taxation, Public policy, Implementation, Implementation process

Journal Title

Health Res Policy Syst

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1478-4505
1478-4505

Volume Title

20

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC