Since the government overturned the ban in small bars, more and more large cafes are allowing their customers to smoke.(Netherlands - smoking ban lifted in small cafes with no staff..) In June, inspectors found smoking in 28% of the bars they visited. That has now increased to 51%.
According to the Volkskrant (a national daily Dutch morning newspaper), the new government says around half of the country’s bars are smaller than 70 m2, meaning they are exempt from the ban, provided they do not employ staff. However, the Dutch catering association says the figure is closer to 25%.
Not only is there confusion about the size of bars, but bigger cafe owners say they are faced with unfair competition.
‘Since the government said it would soften the ban, the whole sector has been discussing it,’ Ben Francooy, chairman of catering workers’ union FNV Horecabond told the paper. ‘If you are going to make [the ban] more flexible, you open the door to fiddling the figures.’ In some places, cafe owners have an alarm light to alert each other if inspectors are spotted, Francooy said.
Reference: Smoking ban widely ignored, ashtrays are back in half the bars, DutchNews.nl, 12/24/2010.
Netherlands - related news briefs:
Netherlands - smoking ban lifted in small cafes with no staff..;
Netherlands - small pubs (bars) - one-man businesses smoking allowed..;
Netherlands - legislation to abolish smoking ban for small cafes/bars with no staff.. ;
Netherlands - bars defy two-year old smoking ban..;
Netherlands - small bars can continue to ignore smoking ban..;
Dutch government will change law to keep bars smoke free..;
Netherlands - lifted smoking ban for bars with no employees..;
Holland - smoking ban temporarily halted for smaller cafes run by their owners alone..;
Netherlands - spot checks on smoking in small cafes suspended temporarily..;
Dutch bar owners without staff when victory against smoking ban..;
Netherlands - Marijuana /Tobacco Cigarettes - Confusion..;
Netherlands - small bars/cafes with no staff could be exempt from smoking ban..;
Court spares small Dutch cafe over smoking ban..;
Netherlands - 1st court case for flouting smoking ban..;
Netherlands - ban on smoking in bars and restaurants NOT enforced..; Netherlands - ban on smoking in bars and restaurants NOT enforced..; Netherlands the smoking ban must be enforced - Ab Klink, Health Minister...;
Congratulations are in order: Netherlands, Romania & Alberta...
(Holland, Dutch)
Read more...
Netherlands - smoking ban widely ignored - govt not sure how many bars have no employees..
Ocean City, Maryland - council rejects outdoor smoking ban, seeks designated areas..
December 24, 2010 - OCEAN CITY, Md. - Ocean City’s neighboring resort town, Bethany Beach, Del. is a prime example of the proposed ban. Bethany Beach passed a smoking ban on its beaches and Boardwalk in 2008. The ban lasts from May 15 to Sept. 15 every year. During that time frame, smokers are provided with designated smoking areas on Bethany’s beaches. Last summer Bethany Beach Mayor Tony McClenny had said that the smoking ban enforced during the busy season has proven to be popular, and the town has experienced little resistance and few complaints as well as enforcement actions. In April 2008, town officials banned smoking year-round at town parks, playgrounds and the bandstand area of the boardwalk. They also prohibited smoking on most of the boardwalk and the beach between May 15 and Sept. 15. (Council Rejects Outdoor Smoking Ban, Seeks Designated Areas, written By: Joanne Shriner, Staff Writer, mdcoastdispatch.com, 12/24/2010; Bethany Considers Extending Beach Smoking Ban, WBOC.com, 11/18/2010))
On Monday night, December 20th the Ocean City, MD city council decided to reject a proposed smoking ban. Instead, they unanimously approved a new motion to restrict smoking at public parks, following the rules that already existed there. The motion also included an initiative to create plans for voluntary smoking areas at the boardwalk and beach, rather than a complete ban. The vote came after a public hearing, in which residents of Ocean City and visitors from all over Maryland and Delaware voiced their opinions. Councillors of Ocean City, Delmarva, Maryland, on Wednesday, December 23rd voted unanimously not to ban smoking through instead to create voluntary smoking areas on the beach and Boardwalk.
After hearing from supporters and opponents of a proposed smoking ban, the council agreed with Councilman Joe Hall's suggestion to set up voluntary smoking areas on the beach and Boardwalk, and more forcefully ban smoking in the resort's parks. According to town staff, there already is a rule against smoking in parks but it had not yet been addressed by ordinance. Hall said he thought placing cans on the beach, labeled with a request that people smoke near them, would work.
Reference: OC council declines beach smoking ban
Voluntary smoking areas along Ocean City coastline, Boardwalk agreed upon by Charlene Sharpe Staff Writer, delmarvanow.com, 12/22/2010.
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Finland - cigarettes go under the counter in 2012..
December 24, 2010 - A ban on displaying cigarettes in shop windows and shelves comes into effect in Finland in 2012. Consumers interested in purchasing cigarettes will be handed simple catalogues illustrating cigarette packages and price information.
Tobacco products will be listed in catalogues by name, package size and retail price. Product images may also be included. The rudimentary nature of the catalogue is intended to prohibit it from being used as a marketing tool.
Finland's anti-smoking laws are considered among the toughest in the world. Since coming into force in October, the law seeks to make Finland smoking-free not by an outright ban on smoking, but by methods such as limiting the visibility and availability of tobacco products. (Finland - president approves new tobacco act, not as strong as people hoped..)
More hotel rooms in Finland will also be smoke-free by 2012, as no more than one in ten hotel rooms may be designated for smoking guests.
Cigarette vending machines will meanwhile be a thing of the past staring in 2015.
Since October, supplying tobacco to minors has been a punishable offence leading to a fine or even jail time. Smoking bans were also extended to school yards, festivals and football stadiums. (Finland - enforcement of tobacco act begins - 1st - forbid the selling of cigarettes to children..)
Finland - ban on smoking on terraces of private apartments overturned...
Finland - govt can not prevent people from smoking in cars when kids are present...
Finland - proposal for plain cigarette packaging surfaces again...
Finland - parliament will soon vote on anti-smoking bill...
Reference: Cigarettes Go under the Counter in 2012, YLE.fi, 12/24/2010.
Finland - some related news briefs:
Finland - enforcement of tobacco act begins - 1st - forbid the selling of cigarettes to children..;
Finland - ban on smoking on terraces of private apartments overturned..;
Finland - president approves new tobacco act, not as strong as people hoped..;
Finland - Philip Morris destroys 20 million cigarettes - not self-extinguishing..;
Finland - govt can not prevent people from smoking in cars when kids are present..;
Finland - proposal for plain cigarette packaging surfaces again..;
Finland - parliament will soon vote on anti-smoking bill..;
Finland - anti-smoking bill will end smoking altogether..;
Finland - to end the consumption of tobacco products by 2040..;
Finland - extends anti-tobacco law, restricting smoking in cars and ban on cigarette displays..;
Finland - health officials devising more restrictions to fight tobacco use..;
Finland - government proposing ban on smoking when kids present and other tobacco control measures..;
Finland may ban smoking in cars carrying children..;
Finland - Court of Appeals Hears Cigarette Liability Case, Decision Spring 2010..;
Finland banning shops from displaying cigarettes..;
Finland - proposal to ban tobacco display, total ban on SNUS..;
European Health Commissioner reprimands Astrid Thors for snus liberation campaign..;
Aland Islands Dispute Over Sale of SNUS On Board Ships Threatens Finland's Ratification of the EU's Treaty of Lisbon (The Reform Treaty)..;
Finnish Ferry Goes Swedish Over Snus Ban..;
EU Takes Finland to Court Again For NOT Banning the Use of Oral Tobacco..
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India - cigarette/bidis companies resume tobacco production..
Background:
The existing pictorial warnings -- a scorpion on bidi packs and a cancer-affected lung on cigarette packs -- were to be replaced by a cancer-affected mouth, from December 1 after a notification by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in May this year. (India - revised pictorial warnings on tobacco products will be implemented from December 1, 2010..)
December 7, 2010 - Faced with major tobacco firms halting production over implementation of pictorial warnings (India - revised pictorial warnings on tobacco products will be implemented from December 1, 2010..), the Union (India's) Cabinet on Tuesday, December 7th decided that the current pictures will remain in place for another year. (India - cigarettes and bidis manufacturers halt production seek clarification on pictorial health warnings..)
December 4, 2010 - India's largest cigarette firm ITC, maker of India Kings, Gold Flake and Navy Cut, has stopped production at all its manufacturing units in view of uncertainty over pictorial warnings to be carried on tobacco products starting this month. The company said there was no clarity on types of warnings to be carried on the packages. ITC has stopped production at all five units located across India since yesterday. Confirming the development an ITC spokesperson said, "Units (for making cigarettes) are shut because of the ambiguity in pictorial warnings to be carried from December 1 onwards." According to industry sources, even Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), the country's second largest cigarette maker after ITC that owns brands like Four Square, Red and White and Cavanders, has stopped production. (India - cigarettes and bidis manufacturers halt production seek clarification on pictorial health warnings..)
Reference: Godfrey Phillips, ITC resume cigarette production, The Economic Times, 12/23/2010.
India - some related news briefs:
*India - will delay for a year the use of scarier pictorial warnings on cigarette and bidi packs..;
*India - cigarettes and bidis manufacturers halt production seek clarification on pictorial health warnings..;
*India - Tobacco Board warns farmers against planting unauthorized crop..;
*India - revised pictorial warnings on tobacco products will be implemented from December 1, 2010..;
*India - captions with pictorial warnings should use local languages..:
*India - pictorial warning will appear on every tobacco pack sold from June 1, 2010..;
*India - government set to ban foreign direct investment in tobacco..;
*India - despite tobacco control measure in place - tobacco sales increase..;
*India - still confusion pictorial warnings on cigarette packs..;
*Mumbai, India - NGO activists want closure of hookah bars..;
*India - gutkha and bidi companies NOT pictorial warnings..;
*India - cigarette packs with pictorial warnings are here..; *ndia - NO graphic pictorial warnings yet..;
*India - Still no pictorial warnings on cigarette packs..;
*India - pictorial warning on cigarettes and tobacco products effective May 31, 2009..;
*India - pictorial warning on cigarettes and tobacco products will be implemented from May 31 - no doubts about it..;
*India - will pictorial or graphic health warnings be implemented from May 30, 2009..;
*India - placing pictorial warnings on tobacco products delayed again...
Read more...
Russia - accepting funds from PMI to improve technical colleges..
College students, click to enlarge..
December 23, 2010 - Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) and the Russian nonprofit Centre for Non-Governmental Organizations’ Development (see below) announced today the continuation of an agreement initiated in 2009 for the funding of a charitable program to improve two technical colleges in St. Petersburg and five technical colleges in the Leningrad region, where Philip Morris’ Izhora factory is located.
Russia - 73 percent of boys and 65 percent of girls smoke... A country with a bright future..
from Guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC):PMI’s grant will be used to transform these technical schools into centers of manufacturing excellence by upgrading and modernizing classroom facilities and purchasing modern equipment to replace out-dated machinery. In addition, Philip Morris Izhora will provide promising students with a factory internship program and offer available full-time entry-level positions to the best graduates of the colleges in 2011. Philip Morris Izhora employees will also volunteer their time to provide technical training to teachers and students at the schools.
Payments, gifts and services, monetary or in-kind, and research funding offered by the tobacco industry to government institutions, officials or employees can create conflicts of interest. Conflicting interests are created even if a promise of favourable consideration is not given in exchange, as the potential exists for personal
Principle 1: There is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco
industry’s interests and public health policy interests. 13. The tobacco industry produces and promotes a product that has been proven scientifically to be addictive, to cause disease and death and to give rise to a variety of social ills, including increased poverty. Therefore, Parties should protect the formulation and
implementation of public health policies for tobacco control from the tobacco industry to the greatest extent possible.
This support program for technical schools in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region was initiated by PMI in 2009 with an initial grant to purchase new machinery for 6 technical schools in the area along with scholarships and teaching grants for students and teachers at the selected schools. More than 1000 students per year benefit from the program.
About Centre for Non-Governmental Organizations’ Development: established in 1994 to promote corporate responsibility and charity in Russia, and to provide assistance and support to NGOs. This organization administers charitable projects aimed at assisting socially vulnerable groups with support from leading local and international companies. From PMI reference below.
Reference: Philip Morris International Provides Grants to Improve Seven Technical Colleges in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, Source: Philip Morris International, 121/22/2010
Russia related news briefs:
Russia - govt talks the talk but can't walk the walk..;
Russia - KT&G Corp. completes construction of plant..;
Russia - launches anti-smoking program, maybe they're serious this time..;
Russia - electronic cigarettes to be banned..;
Russia - strong plans to reduce the burden of tobacco use - will it come true??;
Russia - finance minister urges citizens to smoke and drink more to lift tax revenues..;
Russia - BATR has an alternative instead of banning cigarette sales from kiosks or by street vendors..;
Russia - health warnings on cigarette packs..;
Russsia - 73 percent of boys and 65 percent of girls smoke..;
Russia - Finance Ministry skeptical about raising taxes on tobacco..;
Russia - tax on tobacco may be quadrupled..;
Russia - tobacco epidemic with no solution in site..;
Russia - public health official discusses tobacco control..;
Russia - making it more difficult for servicemen to smoke..;
Russia - draft tobacco law being considered by Duma..;
Russia among top-10 smoking nations..;
Russian lawmakers discuss smoking ban for restaurants and bars..;
Russia passes new restrictions on tobacco..;
British American Tobacco (BAT) Misleading Russian Consumers..;
Russian State Duma (Parliament) ratified the framework convention of the World Health Organization (WHO) on tobacco control...
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