Tobacco.org

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: Rigorous Fines for Smoking in Public Places? 

If the Montenegrin Parliament adopts the law about limiting the use of tobacco products, smokers in that republic will be thrown into a regime of isolation.

A special smoking area will be designated for smokers. If anyone dares to light-up in a public place, he/she will have to pay a fine of 25. Newspapers and other media, according to the law regulation, won't be allowed to publish photographs, nor cartoons of persons who are smoking.

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SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: Montenegrin Parliament Bans Smoking in Public 

The parliament in Montenegro, which has one of the highest rates of smoking in Europe, has passed a law banning smoking in public places. The new law also forbids tobacco advertising and the portrayal of smoking on television.

Montenegro is one of the last places one would expect to find a smoking ban. Together with its partner Serbia in the union of Serbia and Montenegro, it has the third highest rate of smoking in Europe, beaten by Turkey and Greece.

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• Djukanovic under a cloud of smoke 

He must be setting some kind of record, Milo Djukanovic, prime minister of Montenegro, simultaneously facing indictment in three foreign courts for his alleged involvement in massive tobacco smuggling operations over a decade while head of government or state.

SO FAR he seems safe from prosecution, and he vehemently refutes all charges, saying last month that whatever transpired was "just transit business which was done in line with the law." But the international noose may be tightening, with Italian, U.S. and European Union courts gripping strands of the rope.

The smuggling scheme portrayed in prosecution allegations in the United States and in Italy has three components. Major tobacco companies like R.J. Reynolds sold and shipped huge amounts of cigarettes to companies called Zetatrans and Montenegrin Tabak Transit, according to U.S. court documents. The shipments were then "licensed" for a fee of $30 a case (10,000 cigarettes) by the Montenegrin government, stored and transferred to "Italian organized crime groups" for transit to Italy and beyond in fast cargo craft, avoiding tariffs and import/export license fees. . . .

he is still seeking independence from the loose union called Serbia and Montenegro and is supported by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., and several Italian politicians.

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