With the new bill of laws adopted by the government, smoking will be completely banned in closed public and working areas, and in the future, it will not be possible to pay taxes in order to allow smoking in some parts of the facility.
The final judgment about the proposition of the law on restricting tobacco products will be by the members of the Assembly of Montenegro.
Health Minister Kenan Hrapovic pointed out that the Prohibition Act strictly forbids consumption in any part of the closed area where work is done among other things by state and local authorities and services, premises where health, educational or cultural activities, social protection, sport and recycling, trade, food processing, food storage, recording and public broadcasting, as well as in the premises where meetings and public gatherings are held.
"More importantly, smoking is not allowed in any room or part of it where food and drink are consumed. So, in the parts of cafes, bars, restaurants serving drinks or food, it is strictly forbidden to smoke," Hrapovic said.
He said that by adopting a new law it would no longer be possible to pay a fee for smoking in some part of the object. Hrapovic said that there is a possibility of determining a special part of the space that the owner specifies for smoking only, for which the conditions of isolation, surface, position, and equipment will be clearly defined.
The Minister of Health said that the payment of monthly fees for the use of tobacco products in catering facilities, in the amount of one euro per square meter, did not give the expected results. He said that in less than seven years only 2.7 million euros were collected from these taxes. World Health Organization (WHO) head Mina Brajovic said that all types of tobacco are toxic to health, including new ones that function according to the tobacco warming principle launched by the tobacco industry.
Brajovic pointed out that the WHO signatories of the Framework Convention on the control of tobacco use from 2018 agreed to recommend the need to prevent the initiation of new tobacco products.
She said that the Scientific Committee on tobacco use, as the advisory figure of the US Food and Drug Administration, with an absolute majority of votes, concluded that there is no scientific evidence that by completely switching from cigarettes to the use of new tobacco products can reduce the risk of illness from diseases associated with smoking.
Text by Ana Komatina, on June 13th, 2019, read more at Vijesti
