Friday, January 26 2018 13:57

ArmInfo. The Ministry of Health of Armenia has prepared a new draft law "On reducing and preventing the negative impact of tobacco use" and submitted on January 24 to a public court on a single portal for draft normative acts e-draft.am.

According to the bill, it is proposed to prohibit the use of tobacco products, their analogs and tobacco substitutes in the territories of medical and educational institutions, including universities, in theatrical and concert complexes, museums, libraries, cinemas, entertainment centers, gyms and stadiums. Violators will face an administrative fine. As the authors of the bill note, the goal of the legislative initiative is to prevent the use of tobacco products and their substitutes, to promote the cessation of their use, and to protect the population from the negative consequences from secondary smoke. As a main line of the current anti-smoking policy, measures are being taken to raise public awareness of the harmful effects. To this end, the Ministry of Health sets a number of restrictions. In particular, the import into the territory of Armenia for the purpose of its sale is subject to tobacco products, which exclusively correspond to the technical safety regulations established by the Armenian government. These products are subject to mandatory certification, according to the established scheme. It is also forbidden to import and sell tobacco if the established norms for the amount of nicotine and tar are exceeded. At the same time, producers and importers of tobacco products are subject to mandatory labeling requirements for negative influence on health. In particular, the information in Armenian should be placed on both sides of the cigarette pack and occupy not less than 50% of the package, while the marking must be readable, clear, placed in a black frame and not subject to damage, GHEA Grapalat font. The turnover of tobacco products that do not comply with these standards will be banned. The law provides for a ban on the sale of tobacco products, and their substitutes for persons under the age of 18 years. If there is doubt about the buyer reaching the age of 18, the seller, while selling the said product, has to require an identity document. It will also be impossible to sell tobacco products or their substitutes at self-service outlets, through automatic machines, mechanical or electronic equipment. It is prohibited to sell tobacco products with discounts, individually (from the opened pack), as well as their sale in medical institutions, school and preschool institutions and within a radius of 100 meters from them, vocational schools, universities and post-graduate educational institutions; on the territory of children's and youth organizations; social institutions; on the territory of theaters, museums, libraries, cinemas, entertainment centers; at public catering facilities (canteens, restaurants, cafes, bars, buffets and other objects of production and sale of culinary products); near monuments of culture; in specially protected natural areas; on the territory of state administration and local self-government bodies, state or municipal institutions that are not a state administration body and local self-government, on the territory of the activities of state commercial and non-commercial legal entities; in transport (transport carrying out passenger transport, rail, ground electric transport, underground), at transport stops, in waiting rooms, in passenger service rooms; at airports (with the exception of smoking areas), on the territory of funiculars, at railway stations and metro stations, at bus stations, bus stations; in hotel facilities (hotels, motels, hotel-type establishments, sanatoriums, rest homes and specialized camps, boarding houses, tourist, children's and youth camps (complexes), tourist houses); in elevators and in public areas in multi-unit buildings; in premises where this is provided for by fire safety rules; in premises in buildings, buildings allocated for the performance of work; in gambling houses, objects of trade and leisure. Within the framework of the legislative initiative of the Armenian Ministry of Health, changes are planned in the Code of Administrative Offenses (COAP), Smoking in unidentified places will result in a fine of 250 thousand drams. In case of a repeated violation within 3 months, the fine will be 500 thousand drams. The law comes into force on November 1, 2018. Since that moment, the RA Law "On Restrictions in the Sphere of Sale and Consumption of Tobacco Products" of December 24, 2004, has been repealed.