http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/country/czech_repulic.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.radio.cz/en/article/118617 http://tobacco.org/news/287761.html The Czech Republic clarified – rather than tightened – its smoking legislation on Friday, when the Senate passed an amendment to the law on smoking in public places. The amendment was very much a compromise between anti-smoking campaigners on one hand, and those trying to protect people’s right to light up in bars and restaurants on the other. But as Rob Cameron reports, a total ban – such as that which exists in many European countries - is still a long way off. As any visitor to Prague already knows, smokers are mostly free to light up anywhere and anytime they want in Czech bars, pubs and restaurants. The present legislation merely requires the owners of such establishments to divide seating areas into smoking and non-smoking, but when all that means is smoke wafting over from a smoking area into a non-smoking area, that separation is largely imaginary. The new law attempts to clarify that. From now on – if the president signs it – pubs and restaurants will decide whether they are smoking or not, and will be obliged to say so on the door. Veteran anti-smoking campaigner Boris Šťastný, one of the MPs who drew up the amendment, had this to say to the online news server novinky.cz: Czech Radio 7 - Radio Prague cr@radio.cz Czech Repulic Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/07/17/Foreigners-ran-Czech-illegal-tobacco-plant/UPI-27741247853335/ http://tobacco.org/news/287425.html Czech customs officers said they arrested six illegal immigrants who operated a clandestine tobacco plant producing cigarettes for the British market. The illegal cigarette factory at Chvalovice, outside Prague, was the 12th similar plant discovered since the Czech Republic became a member of the European Union in 2004, Miroslav Novacek, an official of the Czech customs directorate, told reporters Friday. UPI UK Czech Repulic Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.radio.cz/en/article/117188 http://tobacco.org/news/285576.html The Czech Republic has taken a step against the anti-smoking flow in the rest of Europe. While anti-smoking bans have spread across the continent in recent years, Czech MPs have proposed a relaxation of the current rules for smoking in pubs and restaurants. Anti-smoking groups say they have caved in to pressure from the powerful tobacco lobby. Czech MPs on Wednesday backed a proposal that owners of food serving pubs and restaurants can decide from the middle of next year whether their establishments are smoking or not. Czech Radio 7 - Radio Prague cr@radio.cz Czech Repulic Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://globespotters.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/finding-affordable-sushi-in-prague/?scp=4&sq=smoking&st=cse http://tobacco.org/news/284511.html I had less of a laugh at the Myslbek atrium (Pobrezni 3; Prague 8 ) only a block away, home to one of five Sushi Point locations. When I arrived, two waitresses were puffing away on their cigarettes, sitting at a customer table marked with a non-smoking sign. Nonetheless the grilled salmon roll coated with raw salmon slices (six pieces, 395 koruna) served by the smoking waitress was outstanding, although as I was eating an employee from another concession smoked next to my table, dumping her ashes in the adjacent garbage pail. (Hint: try a different Sushi Point location). New York Times Blogs Czech Repulic Mon, 25 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://praguemonitor.com/2009/05/07/poll-czech-children-worst-cigarette-smoking http://tobacco.org/news/283536.html Czech children are among the youths that smoke the highest number of cigarettes in the world, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Wednesday, citing the latest survey of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) based on data from 2005-2006. Nearly one qarter of 15-year-old Czech girls (23 percent) smoke regularly, which is the second highest number in the world, with the neighbouring Austria being the worst. Among 15-year old Czech boys, one fifth (20 percent) smoke regularly. The situation is worse only in Austria, Finland and Hungary. In Sweden and the United States, the number of smokers among children is three times lower than in the Czech Republic, the survey shows. "The Czechs have figured in top positions in similar surveys for a long time. This is a result of the general atmosphere in society that still does not consider smoking among youths a serious problem," Zdenek Dienstbier, head of the Cancer League organisation, told the paper. Prague Daily Monitor Czech Repulic Thu, 07 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUSLT87344020090429 http://tobacco.org/news/282919.html The annual shareholders meeting of Czech tobacco group Philip Morris CR (TABKsp.PR) approved a 560 crown ($27.74) per share dividend on Wednesday, Czech news agency CTK reported. Reuters Czech Repulic Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=16&storycode=61453&c=2 http://tobacco.org/news/272381.html Three years ago I undertook my first ever brewery tour when along with members of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers I was shown round the Budweiser Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic. Last week I was a guest of the nice people from Budvar for a second time . . . What I am sure of though is that after sitting in a series of smoky bars for several hours - the Republic has yet to ban smoking in its pubs - I realise and appreciate the difference a smoking ban has on my own ability to breathe clearly. Waking up after a night out in Ceske Budjovice my non-smoking lungs were wheezing like an old steam engine on its last legs, my hacking cough a fitting testament to the dozen or so fags-worth of secondhand smoke I must have inhaled during my time in a number of hostelries. The Publican info@thepublicanjobs.com (Hamish Champ) Czech Repulic Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aGj9zx6mvKI8 http://tobacco.org/news/272182.html The Czech inflation rate rose in September, driven by tobacco products, in what economists say is a temporary surge before it drops to the central bank's target as expected. . . . Rising the most were prices of tobacco products that increased 4.6 percent from the previous month due to the delayed impact of an excise tax boost. Bloomberg News adudikova@bloomberg.net (Andrea Dudikova) Czech Repulic Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aYtgAfW9RIGo http://tobacco.org/news/269758.html Czech inflation accelerated in July for the first time in six months on higher prices for natural gas, cigarettes and vacation packages. . . . cigarette prices rose 2.1 percent as producers began to run out of stocks built up before the excise tax on tobacco was raised in January. Bloomberg News Czech Repulic Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/369/czech_business/24925/ http://tobacco.org/news/267955.html Philip Morris, the biggest cigarette producer on the Czech market, has kicked off a cigarette price hike in the Czech Republic, raising its prices by Kc8 per pack, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote Tuesday. Other producers are likely to follow, MfD writes. Prague Daily Monitor Czech Repulic Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aytWdCw6zDiY http://tobacco.org/news/267898.html Philip Morris CR AS has started to reflect a January increase in the Czech excise tax by raising prices of cigarettes, Mlada Fronta Dnes reported. Imperial Tobacco CR, Philip Morris's competitor, expects to raise its retail prices by the end of September Bloomberg News mfiserova@bloomberg.net (Marketa Fiserova) Czech Repulic Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/06/25/no-butts-about-it.php http://tobacco.org/news/267796.html The Association of Restaurants and Hotels in the Czech Republic recently announced that more than 260 non-smoking establishments are now operating in Prague — a sign of either progress or Californication, depending on one’s perspective. However, if you ask the Česká Koalice Proti Tabáku (Czech Coalition Against Tobacco), and exclude coffee shops and Internet cafés from your request, the number plummets to something like 49. And many of those, such as Ambiente on Mánesova and Ferdinanda near the museum, merely cordon off a nonsmoking section. Nothing wrong with that approach, but it hardly suggests a trend. There are, however, a few very good and completely (or largely) smoke-free places in town. A sampling: Prague Post dfaries@praguepost.com ( Dave Faries Staff Writer, The Prague Post ) Czech Repulic Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=319668 http://tobacco.org/news/267481.html Czechs spend more on tobacco, alcohol and other unhealthy habits than on the protection of their health, according to a report on health care worked out within the Round table project and released. Czechs do not like cash payments in health care apart from their health insurance. "People expect that all their health problems to be solved by somebody else and desirably for free if they pay health insurance," Stanislav Vachek, analyst of the Round table on the future of the health care system's funding project. In EU countries, households spend two to five percent of their budget on health. Czech households spent 1.5 times more on tobacco, alcohol and other unhealthy habits than on health. Czech Happenings Czech Repulic Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=273&NrSection=2&NrArticle=19687&tpid=40 http://tobacco.org/news/267248.html When politicians warn that smoking bans will hurt businesses, don’t bother asking them for proof. You have reached a premium content area of TOL [p] Transitions Online Czech Repulic Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=314869 http://tobacco.org/news/266010.html Prague- Some one-quarter of Czechs are smokers and the proportion has remained unchanged over the past decade, according to a survey conducted by the State Health Institute (SZU) last year and unveiled by Ladislav Csemy from the Prague Psychiatric Centre today. In 2007, smokers accounted for 26.6 percent of the total Czech population, while the figure was 26.2 percent ten years ago, Csemy said. Some 3.4 percent of Czechs smoke occasionally, he added. The figures are to highlight the World No Tobacco Day 2008 to be held on May 31. Czech Happenings Czech Repulic Wed, 28 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT