TASS reported a possible ban on the free sale of tobacco in Russia, but the Ministry of Health denied this • TJournal • RIMA

TASS reported a possible ban on the free sale of tobacco in Russia, but the Ministry of Health denied this

The Russian Ministry of Health presented a revised version of the anti-tobacco concept. According to the project, by 2035 it is proposed to ban the free sale of tobacco. this . reports TASS

With this, the department actually announced that cigarettes are equal to other goods, the free sale of which is prohibited in Russia: weapons, nuclear waste, some medicines, precious stones, uranium, drugs and ethyl alcohol.

In addition, the agency announced its intention to reduce the prevalence of tobacco consumption to 1% among Russian residents. This figure is also planned to be achieved by 2035.

From the new version of the Ministry of Health project, instructions on specific rates of excise taxes were removed, since they are already established by tax legislation. At the same time, the concept contains a rule on introducing a tax on the retail sale of electronic cigarettes and a proposal to increase excise tax rates on tobacco.

Updated at 18:40: The Ministry of Health stated that the proposal to ban the free sale of tobacco was not included in the final text of the concept.

A number of experts proposed setting a specific date for banning the free sale of tobacco (in particular, 2035), but such a proposal has not currently found widespread expert support and for this reason is not included by the ministry in the current text of the draft concept.
Ministry of Health

During the preparation of the project, the Ministry of Health’s proposal to ban the sale of tobacco to those born after 2015 was widely discussed. On March 14, 2017, the department reported that the measure remained in the revised concept, but instead of a “specific requirement” it became a “target”.

As followed from another controversial initiative, it was proposed to allow employers to extend the working day for employees who smoke by the time spent on a cigarette break. It is not yet known whether the measure will be retained in the final version of the project.