Interim mayor wants cigarettes out of “Moldpresa” kiosks

Interim Mayor of Chisinau Veaceslav Iordan seeks to prohibit the sale of cigarettes in “Moldpresa” chain of newsstands, Info-Prim Neo reports. Iordan told a City Hall session on March 12 that several companies like “Cebacot”, “Leoplast” and “Moldpresa” sell cigarettes by the piece, “from a bag directly brought from the factory”, activity prohibited by the legislation. According to Iordan, there is a decision of the Chisinau Municipal Council which stipulates that “the cigarettes can be sold only in packages”. Iordan asked the Fiscal Inspectorate, Police, district mayors and the Trade, Public Nourishment and Services Department to stop these violations. According to Iordan, “if there is written “Moldpresa” on the booth”, then it should sell only newspapers and magazines”. In this context, the interim mayor urged specialised bodies to remove the cigarette booths located nearby the education institutions. The remark was made after Tatiana Nagnibeda, the head of the Department for Education, Science, Youth and Sports said that an inspection of the booths nearby education institutions is carried out at the moment. Also she said that the distance from the education institutions is verified. Police Deputy Commissioner of Chisinau Iacob Gumenita told Info-Prim Neo that the sale of cigarettes is performed on the basis of the licences which can be verified in short-time. In case violations are found, the licenses will be cancelled. For his part, head of the Chisinau Fiscal Inspectorate Procopie Duca said that all the companies selling tobacco products, including “Veteran” network or those selling alcoholic beverages have the right to use the authorisations for a certain period. In case the authorisation is missing, the economic activity will be considered illegal and sanctions will be applied, for example, the goods will be confiscated. Referring to the booths located nearby education institutions, Duca said they would be verified in the first place, and in case it will be found that the goods sold there are not intended for students, their activity will stopped.