It is proposed to tighten the fines for the sale of any tobacco to minors – the fine would be up to 580 euros

by times news cr

2024-07-24 10:50:42

They registered proposals providing for this in the amendments to the Law on Control of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Related Products and the Code of Administrative Offenses.

If the Seimas approves, fines ranging from 320 to 580 euros would be provided for the sale, purchase or other transfer of all tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and refills, to a minor.

According to “Laisviečių”, the amendments of the head of the country would not help the parents of minors asking for help, but would only balance the system of fines for the sale of different tobacco products to minors. According to them, the president’s amendments propose to tighten the responsibility of merchants by setting double or even higher fines exclusively for the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors, and also propose to abandon the warning as an administrative penalty for such violations.

“So what did the president propose?” Increase fines for parents and remove warnings. It’s a pity that such an unwise proposal overshadowed the promising promises to expand non-formal education programs as preventive measures to fight addictions, made during the inauguration of the president,” Kasparas Adomaitis, deputy leader of the Freedom faction of the Seimas, told Elta.

Chairwoman of the Addiction Prevention Commission of the Seimas, Morgana Danielė, says that canceling the warning is a flawed attempt to solve the problem by immediately punishing parents with a fine.

“The logic of the warning is that after arresting a teenager with a nicotine product, parents are first informed about the problem and available help – early intervention services, other services available in the municipality for youth related to smoking prevention. Only if the teenager is detained repeatedly, a fine is imposed, as if implying that the parents did not take the necessary steps. It is now proposed to immediately punish the parents with a fine,” says M. Danielė.

In addition, according to her, by proposing to increase fines only for the purchase or transfer of electronic cigarettes to a minor, but not for similar actions with all other tobacco products, the president is doing a disservice.

“If the president’s proposals were accepted, a flawed practice would be created where the sale or resale of regular cigarettes to minors would be less risky than electronic cigarettes. This would encourage re-orientation of resellers towards heated and combustible tobacco products, but does not fundamentally solve the problem of reselling as a criminal act”, emphasizes M. Danielė.

According to the members of the Freedom faction of the Seimas, the project of the head of the country is forming another bad practice.

“The project eliminates the warning to parents of minors for violations of restrictions on the use or possession of electronic cigarettes or their fillers. Instead of a warning, parents are immediately fined. However, such a warning to parents would still apply if other tobacco products were found in a minor’s pocket. In this way, the message is sent to teenagers that ordinary cigarettes or heated tobacco are a “lesser evil” because the sanctions for them are also lower,” say the “liberals”.

According to K. Adomaitis, the cancellation of the warning for possession of electronic cigarettes deprives the parents of the right to be informed about the discovered problem.

“Instead of information, specialist consultations, early intervention and other available ways to solve the problem, parents are immediately handed a fine,” fears the MP.

By proposing greater and equal sanctions for the sale or transfer of any tobacco products to minors and preserving the warning to parents, members of the Freedom faction hope for a more effective and balanced system of penalties that does not distinguish one type of tobacco or another.

Amendments to the Law on the Control of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Products Related to Them and the Code of Administrative Misdemeanors are planned to be considered in the fall session of the Seimas. If they are adopted, the fines for violations of the trade in tobacco products would amount to 4-6 thousand. euros, and for a repeated violation they would increase to 6-10 thousand. euros, and all existing licenses to engage in retail trade of tobacco and related products would be cancelled.

As ELTA has already announced, on July 11 After the submission, the Seimas approved the amendments to the laws initiated by President Gitanas Nausėda, which propose to tighten sanctions for the sale of tobacco products to minors. The Health Affairs Committee was approved as the main committee considering the project.

Darius Urbonas, the adviser to the country’s leader, who presented the initiative, assured that the proposal aims to solve the problem of the spread of electronic cigarettes among minors and young people. Although Lithuania has been making efforts to solve this problem for some time, according to him, various studies and statistical data show that the negative trend remains and the problem is not abating.

2024-07-24 10:50:42

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