Parliament proposes to monitor law on tobacco products

It was suggested to monitor the ap-plication

of certain laws, including the recently adopted law “On Restriction of the Use of Tobacco Products”.

Member of the Parliament of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy Ilham Mammadov proposed it at a meeting of the committee, held on December 14.

He added that the law “On Restriction of the Use of Tobacco Products” is the result of many years of work.

Mammadov believes that monitoring will help to make the law even more effective.

In accordance with the law, smoking is forbidden throughout the territory of various educational institutions, in hotels, health care facilities, rehabilitation centers, health resorts, social facilities, theaters and cinemas, at exhibitions, reading rooms, libraries, museums and other cultural institutions, in underground and overground crossings, buses (including intercity and international), taxis, metro, air, railway, sea and river transport, bus stops, railway stations, river and sea ports, airports, elevators, common areas of multi-apartment buildings, in buildings and enterprises where flammable substances are stored, on playgrounds, beaches, workplaces of organizations, enterprises, offices, regardless of organizational and legal form and ownership.

Allocation of places for smoking will be transferred to the discretion of employers. In addition, municipalities are given new powers to take action against the use of tobacco products. They will take steps to restrict the use of tobacco products.

Smoking is being prohibited as it is decreed that smokers’ habits are setting a bad example to others, particularly children. Also, active smokers can estimate the harm of tobacco on their health and decide whether to smoke or not, but those who are passive smokers had no choice here and passive smoking is more harmful for human body than active smoking.

Smoking is recognized as a chronic disease and included in the "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems". There are more than 25 diseases that develop or their course worsens under the influence of smoking.

Such prohibitions already exist in such countries as the U.S., Finland, Ukraine, Great Britain, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Syria, Egypt and etc.