 This study found that the majority of policy instruments recommended by the World Health Organization, WHO, for national NCD prevention policy are regulatory or economic-slash-fiscal in nature. These instruments include laws, regulations, standards, taxes, prices, campaigns, recommendations, partnerships and coordination. Soft instruments, such as education and awareness raising, are also commonly used. Tobacco and alcohol policy tend to rely heavily on regulatory and economic-slash-fiscal instruments, while nutrition and physical activity policy tend to rely more heavily on soft instruments. This article was authored by Peter Gilius, Sven Messing, Antoninus Symbol and others.