On the morning of September 21, in Hanoi, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms.
Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Minister of Health Vu Manh Ha said that the draft law includes 3 articles. In which, it proposes to amend and supplement a number of prohibited acts. Specifically, the draft law supplements the prohibition of producing, trading, storing, transporting, exporting, importing, transiting, temporarily importing, re-exporting, transferring, storing, and using e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and other tobaccos.
The draft also supplements regulations related to banning tobacco displays. According to the draft, tobacco display is the arrangement of tobacco products, tobacco packaging, tobacco product images or forms of brand identification of tobacco at wholesale and retail tobacco locations in any form for consumers to see.
In addition, the draft also prohibits selling cigarettes by vending machines, selling cigarettes on cyberspace, e-commerce platforms, social networks, digital platforms or other electronic transaction methods; smoking and selling cigarettes in places where smoking and selling cigarettes are prohibited.
Another content, the draft law amending and supplementing regulations on selling cigarettes.
Accordingly, the draft law stipulates that wholesale and retail cigarette establishments must hang signs noting that they do not sell cigarettes to people under 18 years old, and carry out ID card or national identification application (VNeID) or passport checks for cases where it is suspected that people under 18 years old buy cigarettes.
Agencies, organizations, and individuals are not allowed to organize, allow, or sell cigarettes at locations specified in places where smoking is completely prohibited, places where smoking is prohibited indoors but permitted to have private places for smokers, except for the airport's isolation area.
The draft law also stipulates that cigarettes are not allowed to be sold outside the gates of educational institutions and medical facilities within a radius of 100m from the nearest campus boundary of that institution.
Regarding this content, current law stipulates that cigarettes are not allowed to be sold outside the gates of nurseries, kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, medical research institutes, hospitals, maternity hospitals, preventive medicine centers, commune, ward, town health stations within 100m from the nearest campus boundary of that facility.
Compared to the old regulations, the draft law no longer lists but summarizes the content of not being allowed to sell cigarettes outside the gate of educational and medical facilities within a radius of 100m.
Presenting the Summary Report of the preliminary appraisal of the draft Law, Member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the Standing Committee agreed on the scope of amending and supplementing and the name of the Law.
Regarding the content of the draft Law, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the Standing Committee of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs proposed to study and clearly stipulate the responsibility of the Ministry of Health to coordinate to help the Government unify state management of tobacco harm prevention and control.
Regarding prohibited acts and regulations to reduce access to tobacco, it is proposed to review and amend regulations to be concise and clear, ensuring the full and strict institutionalization of the policy of banning e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and banning addictive substances.
Continue to comprehensively assess the feasibility and study international experiences to ensure compliance with the reality and policies of the State on preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco.
