6 minutes agoFrom now on, in Albania you can buy cigarettes everywhere
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)Soon, a pack of cigarettes will not be able to buy it in any neighborhood store, supermarket or local. The Ministry of Health through a procedure on changing the tobacco law requires that the selling points of tobacco products be equipped with a vacan license. The purpose of this change in [...]
The purpose of this change to the law “for the protection of tobacco products” is to limit the number of selling points of these products in the country. Changes predict and stop selling packages with 10 cigarettes or less.
Article 8 after the first paragraph is added with this content:
“Producers and/or importers of tobacco products are obliged to announce to the Ministry responsible for health, any non-servative new product that puts in the country, electronic cigarettes or any product that will be released in the next years”.
<x) Article 11 after the first sentence is added to this content: “The sale of packages with 10 cigarettes or less, as well as dirty cigarettes or cigarettes, which tastes like hiding the original one as a mint, vanilla etc.
Tobacco products are currently sold in all supermarkets, small shops, dedicated shops, bars, restaurants and local nights, and in total an estimated 20,000 formal selling points are estimated, but the burden of illegal trade on street sales or open markets is considerable, with up to 40% according to market operators.
Market operators claim that limiting retail points by law risks increasing informality in the market, applying cheaper prices due to lack of taxes and introducing uncontrolled products to the market. On the other hand, this draft could also lead to monopolizing the trade of this product through conditions that could be decided on for obtaining this license.
Tobacco consumption in Albania reduced
Smoking and cigarettes have dropped from 43% of the adult population in 2008 to 35% in 2018 in men aged 15-49, as they increased by 1 percentage point of smoking in women over the same period, according to an INSTAT survey conducted in 2018 concerning risk factors that affect population health.
Smokers were reduced by about 7 percent over a decade as the government tightened anti-smoking measures, largely not allowing its consumption in collective and closed environments. Tax levels also increased. The rise in excises for several consecutive years against cigarettes increased their price, affecting consumer control.
However, as seen by official data, cigarette imports have dropped several times the number of smokers. During 2010-2017, the import of cigarettes dropped by 31 percent, according to Finance Ministry data, while the number of smokers has dropped by just 7%.
