Tobacco.org

• Estonian smoke out 

In her remarks released on the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, Estonia's Social Affairs Minister Maret Maripuu underlined the importance of quitting smoking and called on residents to break the habit.

The minister noted that a couple of years ago Estonia made a very important decision for the sake of the health of all residents, banning smoking in catering establishments.

"I believe that many of us met the decision with a feeling of relief, as tobacco smoke will no longer spoil our enjoyment of food, our clothes will no longer smell of cigarettes after a visit to a restaurant and it's safer to go out to eat with a child," she said. Maripuu said that according to a recent survey both the employees at the establishments as well as customers, are satisfied with the restrictions on smoking.

The pollster TNS Emor found in a survey commissioned by an importer of stop smoking aides, that 60 percent of smokers in Estonia are men from Tallinn or the northeastern Ida-Viru county who in most cases have secondary education and earn less than 3,500 kroons per household member per month.

Jump to full article »

• Baltic gangs ‘smuggling cigarettes into Ireland’ 

CRIMINAL gangs from the Baltic states are operating a highly organised cigarette smuggling operation into Ireland, according to the Revenue Commissioners.

The emergence of the trafficking route is directly responsible for a massive jump in the number of cigarette seizures last year. . . .

He said most of the smuggling is done in suitcases, and an unknown amount of consignments were getting through. Customs believe the cigarettes are being sold to people from the Baltic states, through their own shops.

Jump to full article »

• Estonia considers its future as a smoke-free zone 

And for many, a cigarette literally goes hand-in-hand with the whole experience.

But here in Estonia all this is set to change. As of next May, the government is proposing to transform the atmosphere of the country’s hostelries by imposing a smoking ban.

Yet this could damage an economy in which foreign visitors account for about half of all tobacco sales, and whose service sector constitutes over 66 per cent of its GDP. “The expected influence on the economy is marginal,” says Mario Lambing of Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. “A number of studies in the U.S.A. have found that banning smoking has not hugely affected the turnover of bars and restaurants. However, some of the studies have found quite the reverse – that prohibiting smoking has had a negative effect.”

“I’m very positive about the future of Tallinn as a non-smoking tourist destination,” says Evelin Tsirk, manager of the Tallinn City Tourist Office. . . .

Estonia’s Tobacco Act already ensures that bars and restaurants with more than one room include non-smoking areas. The new law will prohibit smoking in all establishments where food and drink are served.

Jump to full article »

• Eastern Approaches: Tax huff in Hungary 

According to rules crafted in the mid-1990s, Hungary and other "first-wave" enlargement countries were supposed to enact reform legislation by 2002 to harmonize tax rates with West Europe and, thus, qualify for EU entry in 2004. . .

But in recent months, pressure from several candidate countries prompted EU enlargement negotiators to back off on tobacco tax reform in the East. At the request of individual countries, the EU granted cigarette-tax concessions for Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Each country will be able to delay cigarette tax increases for several years. Poland got permission to delay reforms until 2009. Estonia can wait until 2010.

Hungary's finance and foreign ministers asked for a similar concession last spring -- igniting the ire of Dr. Felix and others in his camp. Smoking opponents believe that government ministers sought concessions under pressure from, and in behalf of, big tobacco companies.

The official arguments for tax-hike delays range from concerns that higher taxes would encourage cigarette smuggling, to a fear that costlier smokes would spark consumer rebellions that eventually could lead to rejection of voter referendums for EU membership in candidate countries.

In granting the delays, the EU found those arguments valid. . .

But Budapest asked Brussels to take another look at its cigarette tax plan because -- as foreign ministry spokesman Tamas Toth told the MTI news agency -- the EU handed a concession to neighboring Slovakia in March. . .

Dr. Vadasz and his group, the Alliance for Tobacco Control, recently filed a formal complaint with the government.

Jump to full article »

• Draconian tobacco laws fail to smoke out Estonian president 

The country ushered in the new year with some of the most sweeping measures against smoking yet seen in Europe. Its "law on tobacco", which took effect on Wednesday, bans cigarettes in all public places, from offices to the stairwells of blocks of flats.

The no-smoking signs are being hung up in every indoor gathering place. . .

Not even the street is safe. Under-age smokers caught lighting up become liable to a £400 fine - a huge sum by local standards - and callers to a a radio phone-in programme in Tallinn this week were relishing the prospect of reprimanding anti-social elements taking a puff at bus stops.

Mr Meri, 72 in March, is a heavy smoker of Marlboro Lights. "He doesn't smoke in public places, and he always tells photographers not to snap him when he is smoking," his spokeswoman, Epp Alatalu, said. "But he smokes far too much."

And he is going to exploit a let-out which allows ventilated smoking rooms if there is a sufficiently strong demand. When he returns from his New Year holiday his office in the presidential palace will be fitted with the specified fans to let him puff lawfully.

Jump to full article »