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British American Tobacco Latvia shuts down its production plant in Riga  

British American Tobacco Latvia is shutting down its production plant in Riga (Miera Street 58) at the end of September 2009, and releasing 223 employees. The main reasons – the high excise tax of recent years, which has significantly brought up prices for cigarettes and boosted the black market.

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Stricter limits on tobacco products crossing border into Latvia approved 

Latvian Saeima passed in the final reading amendments to the law on excise tax today, stipulating that from now on stricter limits will apply to the amount of tobacco products that private individuals from third countries can bring with them to Latvia; furthermore, persons will not be able to bring the allowed amount of tobacco products across the border of Latvia more often than one time per day.

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Baltic finance ministers imposed veto on EC suggestion to raise tobacco and fuel excises 

Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian finance ministers on Friday agreed to impose a veto on the suggestion of the European Commission to set higher excises on tobacco and fuel as of 2015 and to think about the euro adoption in 2011-2012.

At the meeting held in Trakai on Friday, Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius, Latvian Finance Minister Atis Slakters and Estonian Finance Minister Ivari Padar underlined that each country would have to decide itself on the excises amount, informs ELTA.

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Smoking at Work Might be Forbidden 

Euro Commissar regarding the social politics issue, Vladimir Shmidte suggests to enter the law to forbid smoking at working places across the EU countries. "We have to guarantee security of the working process, as smoking causes damages to the health" – he states.

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44% of Population for Penalties against Smokers 

44% of the Latvian population back the initiative of local doctors to ban smoking in children presence and introduce criminal responsibility for violators. 43% negatively reacted on the initiative, 7% said they did not care, and 6% had their own answers. Many respondents said there should be administrative penalties, say, fines.

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• Seimas Deputy Speaker of Lithuania roposed to display visual information of tobacco harm on tobacco products 

Seimas Deputy Speaker of Lithuania roposed to display visual information of tobacco harm on tobacco products

Seimas Deputy Speaker Alfredas Pekeliunas proposes to oblige producers of tobacco items to provide not only warning notes but also visual information on harmful effect of tobacco products on every pack of a tobacco product sold to customers, informs LETA.

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How Much Saeima Members Smoke 

Experts predict that a few years after smoking will become the cruelest killer destroying more people than any other disease. The biggest problem of smoking is refusal of smokers to admit that the habit brings them a lot of harm, TV5 said in "News Evening". However, there are many ways to assess the condition of the respiratory system.

Members of the Saeima had a chance to get familiar with one of them right in the legislative body on Wednesday, May 8. Interest of parliamentarians to the purity of their breath was so great that they had to stand in line. 80 people participated in the activity.

Non-smoker Aigars Kalvitis turned out to show the best results. But Jakov Pliner, Alexandr Golubev and Karlis Leiskalns, who smoke a box a day, found themselves on the opposite side of the rating.

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Sanctions for Smoking with Children Toughening 

Latvian doctors have recommended banning of smoking in the presence of children and bringing offenders to a criminal responsibility. The intention was revealed by President of the Latvian Society of Doctors Peteris Apinis in an interview with Radio Baltkom.

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Customs officers seize nearly €40,000 worth of cigarettes at Dublin Airport  

Customs Officers at Dublin Airport have smashed what's believed to be a major cigarette smuggling operation.

Over 100-thousand cigarettes, valued at almost €40,000, have been seized from passengers on a flight from Eastern Europe.

As part of an operation by Customs Officers, 112,000 cigarettes have been recovered from passengers on a flight from Riga in Latvia.

Revenue had identified a particular gang, which based in Latvia, smuggling cigarettes through Dublin Airport and distributing them for sale on the black market throughout the country.

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Nottinghamshire | Officers seize 121,000 cigarettes 

More than 120,000 cigarettes have been seized by customs officers from a gang of 13 people trying to smuggle them in via East Midlands Airport.

The cigarettes were seized as the group returned on a flight from Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday afternoon. Officers said the group was mostly from Derbyshire.

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250,000 cigarettes seized in Dublin 

Some 250,000 cigarettes have been seized by customs officers at Dublin airport in what they described as a "highly organised" smuggling operation.

Officers from Revenue's Customs Service seized the cigarettes from passengers arriving on a flight from Riga, Latvia, yesterday, a statement said.

"'Operation Swift'" was high profile operation targeting passengers arriving from the Latvian capital," the statement said.

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Latvia in mourning for fire dead 

Latvia is holding a day of mourning for the 25 people who died in the country's worst fire since independence in 1991.

The fire last Friday destroyed a care home for the disabled.

The Latvian flag is flying at half-mast on all official buildings, and flags decorated with mourning ribbons are being flown across the country.

It is thought the blaze was started by either an electrical fault or a discarded cigarette. . . .

at an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Monday, the Latvian welfare minister said it was more likely that someone smoking in bed on the building's third floor was to blame.

Leading politicians, including Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, called for an immediate ban on smoking in all the country's medical facilities.

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Fire in Latvia Leaves 25 Dead or Missing  

RIGA, Latvia - Faulty electrical wiring may have sparked a catastrophic fire that raced through a home for the disabled in western Latvia on Friday, leaving 25 people dead or missing, rescuers said.

By Friday evening, rescue workers had pulled 20 bodies from the badly charred three-story building in Alsunga, a town about 110 miles west of Riga, the capital. Five others were missing and presumed dead, said Inese Veisa of the State Fire and Rescue Service.

Some 90 people, most of them mentally or physically disabled, were inside the 19th-century brick manor when the fire broke out just after midnight Friday, rescue officials said. . . .

Alternately, investigators said, the fire might have been caused by someone smoking in bed. Due to the freezing temperatures residents were reluctant to smoke outdoors, as required.

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• Latvia quits public smoking ban 

Latvia's Health Ministry has renounced its intention to introduce a ban on smoking in streets, parks and public gardens. Amendments to the tobacco products sales law have been resubmitted to the government for consideration, minus the sections that propose a ban on smoking in public places. The paragraphs were deleted after Cabinet ministers voiced concerns about the ban in December.

However other amendments to restrict smoking in public facilities remain valid. They stipulate the prohibition of smoking in all public buildings, such as cinemas, concert halls, gyms, post offices, and nightclubs.

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• Latvia to stub out smoking in public places  

A law banning smoking in public places is due to come into effect in Latvia on July 1, the health ministry has said.

"The new restrictions stipulate that smoking will be allowed only in areas specifically designated for the purpose," health ministry spokeswoman Zaiga Bravida said Tuesday.

As of next month, smoking will not be allowed in the workplace, common stairwells, schools, health and rehabilitation facilities, cinemas, concert halls and sports centres.

Open-air cafes and public transportation stops are also covered . . .

Around 47 percent of men and 18 percent of women in Latvia smoke regularly

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