Tobacco.org

Czech Philip Morris sees no reason for further tax rises on cigarettes 

Czech tobacco group Philip Morris CR sees no reason for further tax hikes on cigarettes in the next several years after the last rise at the start of the year, weekly Euro reported, citing the group's new CEO.

"After a rise in the consumer tax in January 2008, the Czech Republic fulfilled and passed the minimum tax, and therefore we do not see a reason for raising the rate for several years," Euro quoted Alvise Giustiniani as saying in an interview.

The tobacco group's Czech market share has eroded in recent years amid fiercer competition and tax hikes on cigarettes

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• LN: Austria takes tough stance on cigarette imports 

Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on persons bringing Czech cigarettes to Austria and in addition they confiscate all the non-permitted cigarettes they find, the daily Lidove noviny wrote Tuesday.

Czechs taking out more than one carton of Czech cigarettes while travelling for holiday to Croatia via Austria could be severely punished because the Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on all drivers who violate "the tobacco law" while crossing the Austrian border, the paper says.

Under the law, passed shortly before the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area without border checks last December, one person can only take out 200 pieces of cigarettes with the Czech-language health warning message while travelling from the Czech Republic to Austria.

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• Právo: Foreigners raid Czech cigarette market  

Foreigners buy roughly one-fourth of the 73 billion pieces of cigarettes annually sold in the Czech Republic where tobacco products are still cheaper than in Germany or Austria despite the gradual increase, the daily Pravo writes today.

A cigarette shopping spree is widespread in the border areas, Pravo writes.

"Last year, foreigners took some 5.6 billion cigarettes out of the Czech Republic. Conversely, some 1.8 billion cigarettes were taken to the Czech Republic from Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia," Kamil Provaznik, an executive of the company Imperial Tobacco, told the paper.

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• Sparks flying in cigarette dispute 

Industry and Trade Minister Martin Říman is now calling on groups afflicted by Austria’s limit on Czech cigarette imports, like the “trafika” newsstands dotting the border, to sue the country through the European Union legal system.

Austrians are allowed to bring only 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars or 250 grams of loose tobacco home from their visits to the Czech Republic — limits that technically should apply only to non-EU states. For member states, the EU sets guideline levels four times higher.

“This is not about getting more money to flow into the state treasury. It’s a matter of principle,” said Tomáš Bartovský, spokesman for the Industry and Trade Ministry. “[In this case] one EU member state is restricting the free trade of goods from another member state.”

It’s atypical for member states to file complaints against each other, hence Říman’s plea to tobacconists, Bartovský added.

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PRUCHA: Smoking habits 

Although I feel like I’ve answered Anna’s question appropriately, given the moment, I wonder how long it will be before questions about smoking come up again. As we traipse through the city on our way home, we pass several smokers and I note that Anna is at eye level with a cigarette butt held when walking.

Several years ago when I taught English to 8-year-old Michal, he always made a show of pointing, making loud coughing sounds and exclamatory cries of “How disgusting!” in English whenever we encountered someone with a cigarette. While I was embarrassed by the fervor of Michal’s reactions, I had no idea how my feelings would change once I became a mother myself. . . .

According to a recent survey, most Czechs (59%) are in favor of a ban on smoking in restaurants, although a much smaller number (39%) would support smoke-free environments in bars and cafes. However, despite several recent attempts, the Czech Parliament has yet to muster enough votes to pass a smoking ban. One of the strongest opponents is the current Czech President, V�clav Klaus. In spite of being a non-smoker himself, Klaus has repeatedly thrown his weight against the proposed smoking ban in restaurants, sighting it as on infringement on a citizen’s privacy and refusing to acknowledge the harm of second-hand smoke. Although Klaus’s behavior has certainly made passing the legislation much more difficult, the trend in other European countries like Italy and Ireland, and some larger cities including Paris and Berlin, is decidedly anti-smoking and I hope, sooner rather than later, the Czech Republic will join the “in-crowd” of EU member states with smoking regulations.

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Poll: Most Czechs call for more smoking restrictions  

Most Czechs support further restrictions of smoking at public places, according to a poll conducted by the STEM agency on April 1-8 on 1341 respondents and released to CTK Friday.

Two-thirds of respondents want restaurants to be obliged to build solid walls dividing smoking and non-smoking zones.

A total of 57 percent wish a law that would ban smoking at all public places, including restaurants, cafes and discos.

A total ban on smoking in restaurants and other public places is supported mainly by smoking opponents (89 percent). Moreover, 23 percent of tolerant smokers and 17 percent of chain smokers would accept it.

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• Most Czechs support ban on smoking in restaurants, not bars-poll  

More than half of Czechs support banning smoking in restaurants but only 39 percent would ban smoking in bars and cafes, according to a poll the CVVM polling agency gave to CTK.

More than half of respondents said that smoking should not be prohibited in night clubs and cafes, the poll showed.

An overwhelming majority of Czechs - 95 percent - believe that there should be a ban on smoking in theatres, cinemas and public transport premises. Three-quarters of respondents (76 percent) supported the smoking ban at work places, seven in ten respondents said that smoking should be banned at rail stations, bus stops and at airports.

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Philip Morris CR Rises Most Since 2002 on Profit Gain (Update2) 

Philip Morris CR AS, the Czech unit of Europe's largest cigarette maker, gained the most in almost six years in Prague trading after the company said profit unexpectedly rose in 2007 and indicated its dividend may beat estimates.

Philip Morris CR climbed 630 koruna, or 9.8 percent, to 7,080 koruna, the biggest one-day advance since July 4, 2002. Parent company Philip Morris International Inc. was spun off this week from Altria Group and official trading begins on March 31 in the U.S.

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Philip Morris CR Rises Most Since 2002 on Profit Gain (Update1) 

Philip Morris CR AS, the Czech unit of Europe's largest cigarette maker, gained the most in almost six years in Prague trading after the company said profit unexpectedly rose in 2007 and indicated its dividend may beat estimates.

Philip Morris CR gained as much as 14 percent and was up 540 koruna, or 8.4 percent, to 6,990 koruna at 12:06 p.m. local time, the biggest one-day advance since July 4, 2002. . . .

The invitation to the shareholders' meeting was published in a legal ad in newspaper Hospodarske Noviny today and the company didn't elaborate on the reasons for the profit gain. Spokeswoman Jaroslava Hajkova couldn't be reached for a comment.

Increases in Czech taxes on tobacco in March 2007 and January 2008 pushed prices higher, prompting some smokers of more expensive brands such as Philip Morris's Marlboro and Petra to switch to cheaper products

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Smoking ban back on the table 

Politicians are again discussing a smoking ban for restaurants and bars, Mladá fronta Dnes reported.

Secondhand smoke kills an estimated 1,500 non-smokers every year in the Czech Republic, according to statistics. In addition, the number of teenage smokers continues to rise.

President Václav Klaus has said he opposes a smoking ban because it hurts individual freedoms.

But a number of establishments in Prague say business continues to be good after they voluntarily went smoke-free.

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Parliament gets anti-smoking petition  

Over 92,000 Czechs have signed a petition asking the deputies to pass an amendment to the anti-smoking law banning smoking in all public places including restaurants, cafes and discos, Miloslav Vlcek, chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, told journalists Tuesday.

One of the organisers passed it to Vlcek Tuesday.

"Before the third reading, I will inform the Chamber of Deputies about the petition. I can assure you that as a non-smoker, I support it, though I did not sign it," Vlcek told an organiser.

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• Clearing away the smoke 

At the start of the new year, France and parts of Germany became the latest to join the smoking-ban trend that has recently swept through the European Union. Many new member countries, however, seem reluctant to sign on, including the Czech Republic.  

Every once in a while, talk of a possible smoking ban begins to circulate, but nothing substantial ever seems to come of such discussions. But the issue is starting to gain momentum again and many advocates hope the threat to people’s health from smoking will finally motivate politicians to make some positives changes.

Smoking is practically an institution around these parts. In fact, some health reports claim as many as 50 Czechs a day die of smoking-related diseases. In 2004, statistics from the World Health Organization showed 25 percent of the country’s population above the age of 15 were daily smokers.

Boris Sˇtˇasˇtn‡, a Civic Democrat in the Chamber of Deputies, has made it his personal mission to get a comprehensive anti-smoking bill passed.

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Czech Philip Morris earnings may be hurt by reduced cigarette prices - report 

Earnings in Philip Morris (NYSE:MO) Czech Republic could be harmed as the company sells some cigarette brands for prices which do not reflect increased consumer tax, Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported, citing no sources.

The daily said many tobacco companies made large provisions of cigarettes ahead of the consumer tax hike this year.

However, Philip Morris' supplies are thinner than those of its competitors and, to keep up with their low prices, Philip Morris is being forced to sell cigarettes with increased consumer tax below cost, hurting its earnings, the daily said.

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• 10 Questions 

By Feb. 1, both German states bordering the Czech Republic — Bavaria and Saxony — will have banned smoking in public places, joining a list of European countries that have similar bans, including France, Ireland and Italy. Despite growing public support, residents of the Czech Republic remain generally resistant to such a ban, which must be welcome news to Dominic Brisby of Imperial Tobacco, one of the major tobacco companies operating in the country. Brisby talks to The Prague Post about bans, black-market cigarettes and upcoming price hikes.

? Does Imperial oppose the smoking bans we’ve seen spread across Europe in the past few years?

We think outright bans are disproportionate and unnecessary. We understand that some people find cigarette smoke annoying, but if consumers really wanted pubs and restaurants to ban smoking then the market would take care of this by itself. In a free society it does not seem unreasonable to be allowed to sit down at the end of a day’s work with a beer and a cigarette. . . .

I think Czech people place great value on personal liberty and freedom of choice. Perhaps Czech people, having lived under a communist system, are also less willing to allow politicians to micromanage every aspect of their lives. . . .

In the Czech Republic, we pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly to events — whether consumer demands or competitors’ actions — as well as our perfect execution in the market. As a result of all this, Imperial Tobacco is the fastest-growing tobacco company in the country.

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• President Klaus infuriates doctors with stance on smoking-ban  

President Klaus is famous for his views on Co2 emissions – namely that they are not responsible for climate change. Now, he has shifted his gaze to smoking, and angered other elements of the scientific community, suggesting that passive smoking might not be the health risk that it’s made out to be. As Czech MPs start debating whether smoking should be banned in the country’s restaurants, Mr Klaus has told the press that such a ban would deny smokers their rights, and that the effects of passive smoking are less dangerous than people say. . . .

President Klaus is not a smoker, but is fervently against any sort of smoking-ban in the country’s restaurants. He has even been quoted as saying that a smoking-ban would infringe upon smokers’ human rights. Eva Králíková is a specialist in smoking-related diseases, she is stunned by Mr Klaus’s comments: “I see it in exactly the opposite way, because the freedom to breathe fresh air and clean air seems to be more important to me.”

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