Tobacco.org

• Smoking Slovak children burn down castle  

Two Slovak children were suspected of burning down a large gothic castle in eastern Slovakia when their experimentation with smoking went wrong, police said on Sunday.

Police were investigating two boys on suspicion that they set grass at the foot of the Krasna Horka castle on fire on Saturday when they tried to light up cigarettes, said Jana Mesarova, police spokeswoman for the eastern Slovak region of Kosice. Children under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted in Slovakia.

"A unit sent to the site found that two local boys aged 11 and 12 were trying to light up a cigarette and because of careless use of safety matches, they set grass at the castle hill on fire," Mesarova said.

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Slovaks will raise excise taxes on tobacco  

The Slovak government approved on Wednesday a faster rise in excise taxes on tobacco to boost revenues for next year's state budget, Finance Minister Ivan Miklos said.

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Slovakia Tobacco market - a detailed report 

www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Market-Report/tobacco-in-slo ..

Tobacco in Slovakia report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data (2002-2007), allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2012 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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• Slovak MPs approve partial smoking ban in restaurants  

Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that partially bans smoking in restaurants but allows customers in pubs and cafes to light up.

Under the bill, still to be signed into law by the president, restaurants must earmark at least 50 percent of their floor area for non-smokers and separate them from smokers by a wall.

"This bill represents an important milestone in the protection of non-smokers and a step towards the introduction of further limits on smoking in bars and cafes," Robert Ochaba from the Public Health Bureau told AFP.

"We supported a total smoking ban, we don't consider this partial solution very fortunate," Pavol Kasuba, secretary-general of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants, told AFP.

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Slovak govt OKs cigarette tax hike from Feb 2009  

The Slovak government approved on Wednesday a rise in excise taxes on cigarettes from February 2009 to comply with EU norms, a move that will increase state revenues this year but curb 2009 budget income.

Under the approved draft, which now needs to be passed by parliament, the minimum tax will rise to 2.45 crowns ($0.124) per cigarette next year, from the current 2.10 crowns. Tobacco tax will stay at 1,930 crowns per kilo.

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• Slovak Smokers Dodge 26% Tax as Cheap Cigarettes Flood Market 

Novotny is among 1.3 million smokers in the eastern European country benefiting from an unlikely tax break. Imperial Tobacco Plc and Altria Group Inc., the makers of Davidoff and Marlboro cigarettes, flooded warehouses with more than 200 million packs before a 26 percent increase in the government levy on tobacco was introduced on Jan. 1. This strategy allows retailers to sell them at last year's prices, or about half of what they cost in Germany.

Smokers aren't the only ones benefiting. The Slovak economy expanded 14.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the fastest pace in the 27-nation EU, with cigarette taxes and tobacco stockpiling contributing 4.4 percentage points to growth in gross domestic product.

``We included some tobacco products stock-building in our forecast, but the 4.4 percent of GDP is breathtaking,'' Miroslav Plojhar, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in London said in a research note. ``It seems that tobacco factories had to work all day and night to produce such a huge amount of cigarettes.''

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• Bill on Protection of Non-Smokers Presented for a Public Debate  

The Public Health Authority (UVZ) submitted to parliament for a public discussion a draft amendment to the law on protection of non-smokers. Inspired by legislation in Ireland, Italy, Norway, Malta, Great Britain and Sweden, the Slovak Health Ministry and the Public Health Authority elaborated a draft revision to the law on protection of non-smokers. The aim of the draft amendment is to improve conditions for protection of non-smokers in public places, chiefly through a ban on smoking in restaurants with an area exceeding fifty square meters.

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IA New Bill Bans Advertisement of Tobacco Products in Slovenia 

a. A new bill, which bans the advertisement of tobacco products, comes into force in Slovenia today, Kosovapress reported. The bill bans any kind of advertisement of all tobacco products on the territory of the country.

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• Slovakia joins EU tobacco lawsuit 

SLOVAKIA has joined other European nations in a lawsuit against two tobacco concerns, RJ Reynolds and Japan Tobacco.

The decision by the Slovak cabinet to join the European Union alliance was motivated by "the alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling and money laundering" on the part of RJ Reynolds and Japan Tobacco, Mikulás Gera, the Finance Ministry's press officer, told The Slovak Spectator.

The Finance Ministry hopes for a greater chance to succeed by joining other countries of the European Union than by fighting its battle alone.

The lawsuit is being fought on United States soil under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) legislation, which came into effect in 1970 to fight corporate crime.

The prosecution maintains that RJ Reynolds and Japan Tobacco knowingly supplied an excess of goods to countries bordering the European Union, where excise taxes comprise 80 percent of the retail price of cigarettes, thus aiding and abetting the smuggling trade.

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Total smoking ban fails ($$) 

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Smokers would not mind stricter rules on smoking 

AN MVK survey carried out for the daily SME found that many smokers support restrictions on smoking. Only 19.9 percent said there should be no restrictions, the daily reported.

Robert Ochaba, an expert on tobacco control, told SME that the survey confirms that smoking is no longer considered normal, trendy, or acceptable.

Respondents also confirmed the growing trend of a ban of smoking in the work place. Only 10.3 percent said that their work place allowed unrestricted smoking.

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European Union launches union-wide anti-smoking campaign 

THE EUROPEAN Union has launched a massive anti-smoking campaign worth ?72 million. The campaign, entitled "Help: For a Life Without Tobacco", primarily targets adolescents and young adults.

At a campaign stop in Slovakia on March 31, EU officials said they would tour all 25-member states to present the new campaign. The goal is to encourage people to quit smoking and to prevent non-smokers from lighting up.

"It is easy to take up smoking but hard to quit. It is important to deliver the message that a cigarette in hand is not the sign of a modern man," Eric van der Linden, the European Commission's representative in Slovakia, told a press conference.

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Cigarettes Worth USD 1 Million Confiscated In Slovakia 

Police has confiscated cigarettes worth more than USD 1 Million in Slovakia, RBK reported. The destination of the illegal load has been Poland.

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Company to prevent smoking 

A TOBACCO firm and tobacco distributors have joined in a project aimed at the prevention of smoking among youth.

The Slovak branch of Philip Morris recently launched the project, called Age Matters, which should educate the general public as well as tobacco dealers about the health risks of smoking, focusing on the young generation.

Starting on July 15, the project is designed to prevent youth from getting access to tobacco products. According to estimates, as many as 55 percent of the Slovak teenagers smoke.

The head of Philip Morris Slovakia said the company organised the project because "active participation in solving the problem of youth smokers is one of the most frequent areas in which the public expects us to take concrete steps." . . .

The Slovak Trade Inspectorate (SOI), which monitors Slovak shops' adherence to laws, has also welcomed the activity of the tobacco firm.

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State loses billions in tax fraud 

PRODUCERS and retailers of tobacco products estimate tobacco excise tax evasions reach between Sk4 billion (100 million) and Sk7 billion (175 million) annually, while spirit excise tax evasion is estimated at hundreds of millions of crowns, the private news agency SITA wrote.

According to an analysis prepared by the Finance Ministry, the problem with tobacco and tobacco products lies mainly in smuggling from Slovakia's eastern neighbour Ukraine, where the tax on such products and their final price is significantly lower than in Slovakia.

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