Smoking in public places is banned

Smoking in public places is forbidden. This is just one of the provisions of the new law on tobacco and tobacco articles which entered force later last week, being published in the last issue of the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial,) Info-Prim Neo reports. It is the first national normative act envisaging the tobacco and its influence on the public health, drafted after the Parliament had ratified the World Health Organization’s Frame Convention on controlling tobacco, on the basis of the provisions of international treaties. The law bans to smoke in all education, health, sports institutions and neighboring areas, in public feeding and commercial units, in agricultural and industrial markets, on playing places and in cafes for children, in motor and air public transports, in underground passages, lifts, in places destined to non-smokers, in closed public places, in state institutions, cinemas, theaters, circuses, concert and exhibition halls, museums, libraries, waiting rooms, bus stations, airports, railway stations, in leisure and resting areas, except for the places especially destined to smoke. Other exceptions refer to bars, restaurants, discos and similar locales, which will have specially designed rooms for smokers and non-smokers, compulsorily marked as Smoking area and Non-smoking area. The law also bans direct or indirect advertising for tobacco articles on TV, radio, in the written media, in cinemas. It is forbidden to stimulate the marketing of tobacco products through sponsorships. It is forbidden to sell tobacco products to minors under 18 years; through mobile commerce networks as if from cars, trailers, from improvised booths or counters, in retail units with surfaces smaller than prescribed by the national standards on labor organizing, protecting and hygiene, through machines; in packs containing less than 20 pieces, from open packs and by piece. The tobacco packing will compulsorily contain warnings as Smoking kills, Smoking severely damages your and your neighbors’ health, as well as additional warnings. At the same time, the law provides for gradually reducing the amount of noxious substances in the cigarettes sold within the Moldovan territory, starting as of January 1, 2009.