Bulgaria - final vote delayed on weakened smoking ban..








May 21, 2010 - Bulgaria's parliament delayed on Thursday, May 20th its conclusive [final] vote on the ruling-party proposal to water down a new smoking ban in the country after a ridiculous gaffe.

Following an apparent misunderstanding of the texts put to vote, the MPs (members of parliament) allowed youngsters under 18 to enter disco and night clubs, but barred their access to restaurants and coffee shops, whose owners allow smoking. The gaffe forced MPs from the center-right majority to suspend the vote and convene a meeting of the health commission to solve the issue.

A day earlier the MPs passed at second reading the more liberal rules for smoking in public spaces and abolished for good the full smoking ban.

Under the proposed changes smoking will be allowed in separate smoking spaces inside restaurants, bars, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, ports, and bus stations. The owners of restaurants, clubs and coffee shops with an area less than 50 square meters, should decide if smoking would be allowed. Similar measures were imposed as part of a partial smoking ban in 2005 but have been widely ignored.

The smoking ban was voted by the previous parliament and was supposed to become effective on June 1, but the current MPs approved the amendments to the Health Care Act, proposed by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party.

The draft legislation has surprisingly managed to fuse the ruling center-right GERB with the main opposition Socialist Party. The ad hoc coalition claims that the proposed relaxation of a ban on smoking in all public places would avoid hurting the tourist industry during tough economic times. Tourism accounts for 8% of GDP in the Balkan country of 7.6 million people, the EU's poorest state.

Bulgaria ranks second after Greece in the European Union (EU) in terms of number of regular smokers as a percentage of the population, according to a Eurobarometer survey. Almost every third person between 10 and 19 years of age is a regular smoker, data from the health ministry show.

Last year, the Croatian government was forced to ease a smoking ban after only four months because café owners complained it was crippling business.

The European Parliament has consistently pushed for a total ban on smoking in the workplace, while the European Commission has indicated that it wants to harmonise minimum taxes on tobacco products in a bid to cut down on smuggling . Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Avril Doyle has called for legislation to make it illegal to sell cigarettes and cigars within the European Union by 2025.

References: Bulgaria Vote on Smoking Ban at Dead End, Novinite.com, 5/20/2010; Bulgaria waters down public smoking ban, EurActiv with Reuters, EuraActiv.com, 5/21/2010.

Bulgaria - related news briefs:
Bulgaria - weakened smoking ban, second reading..;
Bulgaria - commission tightens smoking ban a little..;
Bulgaria - Bulgartabac buyer may be chosen by end of year..;
Bulgaria - prime minister not happy with giving tobacco growers subsidies..;
Bulgaria - to loosen smoking ban to start June 1, 2010..;
Bulgaria - finance minister comments may be good news for tobacco farmers..;
Bulgaria - parliament debates proposal to water down smoking ban..;
Bulgaria - majority of all Bulgarians - 78% are against the smoking ban delay..;
Bulgaria - every increase in excise duty on cigarettes consumption goes down..;
Bulgaria - grace period over, increase in tobacco tax starts Thursday, April 1, 2010..;
Bulgaria - Italian authorities arrest 2-Bulgarians smuggling cigarettes..;
Bulgaria - tractor trailer loaded with contraband cigarettes seized in Ancona, Italy..;
Bulgaria - cigarette consumption down, cigarette tax collection up, seeking funds for technology to intercept contraband goods..;
Bulgaria - justifying why smoking ban won't go into effect on June 1, 2010..;
Bulgaria - Citigroup chosen as consultant for sale of Bulgartabac..;
Bulgaria - ruling party may delay smoking ban until 2011..;
Bulgaria - Finance Minister Djankov, "Less Smoking Is Good for Economy..";
Bulgaria - govt to weaken full smoking ban to be effective June 1, 2010..;
Bulgaria - do producers support contraband cigarettes??;
Bulgaria - sale of Bulgartabac coming - selection of a consultant..;
Greek Farmers Renew Bulgaria Border Blockade..;
Bulgaria - leadership of tobacco fund to be replaced..;
Bulgaria - illegal trade in cigarettes will reach 40% of total trade in 2010..;
Bulgaria - limits on personal imports of tobacco products from outside the EU..;
Bulgaria - European Commission authorizes payment to tobacco producers for 2009 crop..;
Bulgaria -two cigarette smuggling attempts busted on Serbian border..;
Bulgaria - price of cigarettes increases..;
Bulgaria - Bulgartabac stays in the economy ministry, sold by middle of 2010, starting price 100,000,000 euro..;
Bulgaria - tobacco producers propose Bulgartabac transfer..;
Bulgaria - government, tobacco growers reach subsidy agreement..;
Bulgaria - start of steps leading to the privatization of the state-owned cigarette monopoly Bulgartabac..;
Bulgaria - police hold smoking protest over lack of bonuses..;
Bulgaria - police busts major cigarette contraband ring..;
Bulgaria - Bulgartabac Holding” will be privatized in 2010..;
Bulgaria - MPs Impose Hefty Fines on Cigarette Sales Violators..;
Bulgartabac Chief - cigarette tax increase as of January 1, 2010..;
Bulgaria Bulgartabac Holding Sells 23% of Shares to Mutual Funds..;
Bulgaria - more than 70% of smokers want to quit..;
Bulgaria - cigarette taxes going up each year except 2011..;
Bulgaria - chair of the economic committee in parliament disapproves of planned raise in excise duties on cigarettes..;
Bulgaria and others - smoking ban, increased cigarette taxes, smuggling..;
Bulgaria - Cigarette excise duties will be increased next year..;
Bulgaria - cigarette contraband, government loses BGN 920M yearly..;
Bulgaria - one third of the tobacco products sold are illicit..;
Bulgaria - new government to speed-up Bulgartabac sale..;
Bulgaria - Fake Victory Light cigarettes..;
Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly may be up for sale..;
Bulgarian lawmakers vote to ban smoking in all publc places from June 2010..; Bulgarian tobacco company Sofia-BT exports increase by 541 percent..;
Does Russia own Bulgaria's tobacco monopoly, Bulgartabac..;
EU percent of adults smokers -highest Greece 1 , Bulgaria 2.. - lowest Slovenia..;
Bulgaria - 1 in 3 youths smoke / half of pregnant women smoke..;
PMI training Bulgarian custom officers to stop cigarette smuggling..;
Philip Morris International (PMI) was truly happy they had been back in the Bulgarian cigarette market for a year and had already had 6.8% of market..;
WHO FCTC Protocol to Prevent Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products Won't Be Completed Until End of 2010..;
WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008..;
Bulgaria Enters 2009 with Cigarette Prices Hike...
Bulgaria is marking Tuesday, November 10, 2009, the 20th year since the internal coup at the Bulgarian Communist Party which led to the crumbling of the communist regime..

0 comments: