Tobacco control

The Parliament has rejected introduction of ban on indoor hookah smoking, Focus News Agency reports. The ban was written into the amendments to the Health Act but was not backed by MPs on second reading.

Bulgarian authorities have destroyed 1.74 million illicit cigarettes and 22.26 tons of bulk tobacco with a total weight exceeding 24 tons, the National Customs Agency (NCA) said in a statement on Thursday, reports Xinhua. 

The illegal goods were first crushed in a mechanical mill and then burned, the statement said.

Greece has the highest rate of contraband cigarettes in the European Union, which cost the state coffers 690 million euros in revenues last year, as KPMG's "Stella Report," commissioned by Philip Morris International, reveals.

From June 8, smoking will be banned in 52 Paris parks, squares and city gardens. The decision comes a year after the same ban was imposed in several central and suburban districts of the French capital.

A ban on smoking in 52 public parks and gardens, which is about 10% of green areas in the French capital, has been enforced in Paris, BTA reported. The mayoralty said that this decision would make Paris "an even more hospitable and breathtaking capital".

Bulgaria is lagging behind the rest of the EU in terms of restrictions that limit  smoking outside.

From today - 20 May, a European Union regulation which establishes a traceability system for each box of cigarettes enters into force.

Each box of cigarettes manufactured or imported in Bulgaria must have a unique code which will allow its tracing to follow from the production to the customer.

More people in Turkey are smoking despite recent government-initiated regulations and campaigns discouraging the unhealthy habit.

Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said on Friday that municipal officers will begin enforcing Greece's largely flouted smoking ban in all enclosed public spaces after the Easter holidays.
Speaking to journalists, Boutaris said smoking has continued in enclosed public spaces despite the ban.
"We are the only country where laws are not enforced," he said at a press briefing.

A ruling by the Council of State, calling for an end to the exemption of nightclubs and casinos from a ban on smoking in public places, has prompted the state to issue a new decision with a new exemption for such businesses.