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Next year Armenia will have to present to the World Health Organization (WHO) its first report on implementation of commitments it has assumed by joining the Framework Convention on Anti-Tobacco Struggle. Armenia ratified the Framework Convention in 2004. According to Alexander Bazarchian, the coordinator of the national anti-tobacco campaign, Armenia's main commitments set by the Convention are the passage of an anti-tobacco legislation, enforcement of a full ban on tobacco advertisement before 2010 and the gradual rise of tobacco products prices and besides
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Hrant Vartanian, a wealthy businessman who owns Armenia’s two main tobacco companies, warned on Thursday that he will close down his factories and move them abroad if the Armenian dram continues to appreciate against the dollar.
“We are now making plans to move some of our manufacturing operations to Georgia and Russia in order to produce things there and import them to Armenia,” he told RFE/RL. “If the dollar continues to fall at this pace, we will resort to that step in the next four or five months in order to save our business.”
The dram has gained more than 30 percent in value against the dollar in the last two and a half years, significantly raising production costs of local firms dependent on exports. Vartanian’s Grand Tobacco and International Masis Tobacco firms not only account for much of cigarette sales in Armenia but also sell a large part of their products, notably fermented tobacco leafs, abroad.
Armenia's first-ever restrictions on smoking in public places appear to be widely flouted by tobacco addicts more than one month after their much-publicized introduction.
A special law that banned smoking in hospitals, cultural and educational institutions and public transportation means went into force on March 2. It was touted as the first phase of a government drive to curb tobacco use in the country. But skeptics warned at the time that the measure will likely prove ineffectual because the authorities have not put in place any mechanisms, including fines, for enforcing them.
There is little evidence of compliance with the smoking ban at the institutions covered by the law. "It is clearly not working," said Mels Sahakian, a professor of economics at Yerevan State University. "There are still no special places set aside for smokers."
Armenia's parliament voted to tighten restrictions on smoking Friday, approving legislation that will hike fines and outlaw lighting up in schools, on public transport and in other public places.
The legislation passed by the National Assembly calls for fines of up to 100,000 drams (US$200) for violators and also bans smoking by teenagers under 16.
The legislation, which goes into effect in January, will also prohibit smoking in cultural institutions and at sporting events. Packs of cigarettes and other tobacco products that do not have medical warnings about the dangers of smoking on them will be destroyed.
The Armenian parliament has turned down a draft law restricting smoking. The bill had suggested imposing of ban on sales of tobacco products to underage persons, as well as smoking at all health, culture, sports, educational facilities, at other public premises and at transport.
The author of the bill, Chairwoman of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission for issues of science and education, culture and youth Granush Akopyan said the number of smokers is steadily growing in the republic. . . .
Local observers are certain the bill has been voted down by influential parliamentarians engaged in the import of tobacco or lobbying the tobacco business.