Tobacco.org

• BAT to appeal promotion penalty 

British American Tobacco Hungary (BAT) Kft is appealing the consumer protection agency NFH's second-degree ruling of February 2008 fining the tobacco producer and its partners participating in the winter campaign of Pall Mall cigarettes Ft 520 million. Small gifts were given to customers sharing personal details with hostesses.

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Hungary to up tobacco excise tax twice this year to meet EU rules 

Hungary's tobacco market has reached a turning point. By the end of the year it must comply with European Union regulations regarding excise tax. This necessitates a hike of the excise tax on tobacco twice this year. The transition period to comply with the EU cigarette tax regime expires at the end of the year in Poland and Slovakia as well.

The excise tax on tobacco is to be raised twice this year, first in April and then in September. The hike will naturally be reflected in the retail price of cigarette, as well, business daily Világgazdaság said on Tuesday.

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Health Minister vows to ban smoking 

Hungary, which tops the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's list for deaths from lung cancer, plans to join the group of countries which have banned smoking in closed public places. ...

Horváth said, “We plan to join the list of European countries where you can't smoke in closed public places under any circumstances. We want to promote self-care and individual responsibility.” The minister announced the plan at a press conference outlining the year's top priorities for her junior governing party, SzDSz. (ash.org)

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• Hungary's Health Minister Says Smoking Ban Is a Top Priority 

Hungary, which tops the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's list for deaths from lung cancer, plans to join the group of countries that forbid smoking in closed public places.

The Health Ministry is drafting a smoking ban similar to clampdowns in Ireland and France, Health Minister Agnes Horvath said at a press conference in Budapest today.

Hungary has 60.5 deaths from lung cancer per 100,000 citizens, compared with an OECD average of 37.4, according to an index compiled by Bloomberg using OECD data. More than 30 percent of the population uses tobacco, higher than any OECD country except for Greece, Turkey and the Netherlands, the data shows.

``We plan to join the list of European countries where you can't smoke in closed public places under any circumstances,'' Horvath said. ``We want to promote self-care and individual responsibility.''

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• New Red Cross director puts spotlight on smoking 

New Hungarian Red Cross Director Ágnes Czimbalmos has a tough prescription for Hungary: quit smoking and eat more veggies.

"To improve public health in Hungary, yes, I would suggest people give up smoking and eat more vegetables, of course," says Ágnes Czimbalmos, who recently took over Hungary's chapter of the leading global non-profit.

"But," she counters realistically, "It is not that easy." Czimbalmos jokingly points out that an anti-smoking campaign in Hungary could be more successful than unbraiding corruption from the country's graft-ridden health care system.

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From World War I, a New Visual Language and Many Dialects 

The exhibition "Graphic Modernism From the Baltic to the Balkans, 1910-1935" at the New York Public Library. Above, a display containing designs from journals and literary magazines. . . .

The curators, S. A. Mansbach and Wojciech Jan Siemaszkiewicz, have pulled rare books, journals and ephemera from the library's Slavic and Baltic division. Tattered, date-stamped and marked with the names of immigrant readers, these materials show new and reconstituted countries embracing the aesthetics of Modern art and design (though not always the radical politics.) . . .

Then as now, advertisers cashed in on the counterculture. The cigarette rolling-paper company Modiano established relationships with Hungarian artists, publishing a multivolume survey of its favorites. On the cover of Volume 4, created by Janos Tabor, the letter O has been enlarged to accommodate the figure of a smoking man. As a suavely commercial use of Modernist design, it stands out in this literary context.

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Stricter regulations for shopkeepers selling tobacco 

A recent survey revealed that over two-thirds of Hungarian teenagers have tried smoking, and experts are worried that current anti-smoking regulations are not effective enough, writes business daily Világgazdaság.

"Despite current regulations, storekeepers continue to sell cigarettes to children under the age of eighteen," noted László Szigeti, secretary of a Hungarian anti-smoking society (ODE).

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Hungary supports EU effort to ban smoking in public places, minister says  

Hungary supports a proposal to ban smoking in public places across the European Union, the health minister said Wednesday.

The proposed ban -- to be discussed Thursday at a summit of EU health ministers in Brussels, Belgium -- would make it illegal to light up in restaurants and other public areas across the 27-member bloc.

The Hungarian government "spoke in favor of a complete ban of smoking in public, enclosed places," Health Minister Agnes Horvath said. "This means that you will not be allowed to smoke in public places such as restaurants."

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Hungary tobacco producers see 7% excise tax hike in 2008 

The Association of Hungarian Tobacco Industry expects a 7% excise tax increase for 2008, as Hungary must comply with European Union regulations that prescribe EUR 64 tax per 1,000 cigarettes, President András Patai said on Thursday.

This increase was calculated at EUR/HUF 255, he added. Hungary's government raised excise tax on tobacco by 2.8% as of 1 April this year and will carry out another 2.8% hike in September.

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Cigarette smuggling down - paper 

Due to stricter customs control, the proportion of untaxed cigarettes illegally sold in Hungary dropped by half in the past six months, the national daily Magyar Hirlap reported on Friday. According to estimates, contraband products account for 11 percent of all cigarettes marketed in Hungary, as against 22 percent in 2005.

Over the past six months the customs authorities seized over 3,000 vehicles whose drivers attempted to smuggle cigarettes or fuel into Hungary. Although the cars and trucks concerned were returned to their owners once they have paid the fine levied on them, the method has proved to be effective.

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• Smoking out the illegal traders of tobacco products 

THE illegal tobacco trade fell by approximately 50% in the first half of 2006, thanks to the coordinated work of the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard (VPOP), border guards and other law-enforcement agencies. In 2005, illegal trade in tobacco products represented 22% of total consumption, causing serious damage to the national economy and cigarette manufacturers, among them British American Tobacco Hungary, which said such illegal trade hurt the state as well as the industry. Rita Bede, spokesperson for BAT Hungary, said, “According to estimates, in 2004-2005 the state lost approximately Ft155bn ($808.4m) in tax revenues due to tobacco smuggling.

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EC addresses last warning to Czechs over tobacco ads 

The European Commission today addressed final warning to three countries, including the Czech Republic, over their failure to respect the EU's directive banning tobacco advertisements, the Reuters agency reported today.

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EU takes Italy to court over ban on tobacco ads, warns Hungary 

„These decisions underline that the commission has zero tolerance for allowing tobacco sponsorship, no matter whether it's for Formula One or for other events,” European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said in a statement from Brussels yesterday. EU governments had to outlaw tobacco advertising in print media, on the radio and the Internet by July 31, 2005. The commission, the bloc's executive arm, has already taken Germany to the European Court of Justice for failing to ban such ads. The EU has been trying to prohibit tobacco advertising since 1998. The law forbids all cigarette ads aimed at an international audience, including sports sponsorship.

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• EU threat to sue over tobacco ban 

The European Commission said today it may sue Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Spain unless they promise within two months to properly enforce an EU ban on tobacco advertising that was adopted in 2003.

EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said: “The commission has zero tolerance for allowing tobacco sponsorship.”

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Fiscal Formula 1: Hotels register 100,000 guest nights 

FORMULA 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone said after the recent Hungarian Grand Prix that "Hungaroring has a valid contract to stage Formula 1 races until 2011." . . .

While Ecclestone confirmed the Hungaroring location until 2011, he also said cigarette ads would be eliminated, in line with the EU ban on advertising tobacco products.

This year such advertisements remained, as Hungaroring president László Palik described it, "under the fence" as allowed by a previous agreement.

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