The National Food Safety Agency recommends storing the tobacco products in drawers, including with horizontal pins, or behind counters. The list of tobacco products available to be bought can be displayed, but must contain only the names of products and their prices, without mentions about promotions. The placing of tobacco and related products in sight is banned as of August 15, IPN reports.

In a press briefing, the Agency’s vice director Ion Șalaru said that as a result of discussions with representatives of the tobacco industry, there was designed a guidebook on how to implement the provisions of the given law. The text is available on the Agency’s website.

The Republic of Moldova is among the countries with high prevalence of tobacco smoking. Over 43% of the men smoke. The pandemic accentuated the problems caused by smoking. The risk for the persons who smoke to develop complications in case of infection with the novel coronavirus is six times bigger. The prevalence of smoking among teenagers is of 16%. The teens smoke cigarettes, heated tobacco or electronic cigarettes.

Vasile Guștiuc, vice director of the Agency, noted that specialists will carry out inspections now that the new provisions will be applied. The persons who will not comply with the new rules face fines of 3,600 to 4,500 lei. The fine for persons holding responsible posts vary between 12,000 to 13,500 lei, while for legal entities – between 13,500 and 15,000 lei.

In case they see violations, the people are urged to call the green line on 080012300, to leave petitions on the Agency’s website or to write messages to the email address officeanspgov.md.

The first country that introduced bans on the visibility of tobacco products at points of sale was Iceland, in 2001. The Republic of Moldova is the 30th country that will apply such provisions.