Smokers beware! The Kingdom is coming up with new stringent measures against smoking in public places. A special ministerial committee has already recommended a new 20-article draft bill, Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted Dr. Sulaiman Al-Sabi, Secretary General of the Anti-Smoking Society, as saying. Al-Sabi said enforcement of the new measures would be the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. He said his society was a watchdog organization and within its jurisdiction it acquaints the authorities with all developments. The draft anti-smoking bill is the brainchild of the society, he said. Last year's statistics showed that the Kingdom topped the list of the world's tobacco importing countries followed by Iran, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt, he added. Al-Sabi regretted that the GCC customs officials sought more time to study the society's proposal for increasing the tariff on tobacco by 200 percent. “We have requested them to take measures, as has been done in EU countries, to force cigarette companies to put pictorial warnings on the cigarette packets so as to discourage smokers. We hope that the idea will be put into action soon as it has yielded positive results in several other countries,” he said. Article 1 of the proposed draft bill aims at combating smoking by taking all the necessary procedures at the level of the government, society and individuals. The second article defines smoking, and it applies to all tobacco derivatives including cigarettes, cigars, hubble-bubble tobacco and snuff. The draft bill strictly prohibits growing and manufacturing of all types of tobacco in the Kingdom. The ban will come into force within three years from the implementation of the law. An increase in the tobacco duty is also envisaged. The draft law says that tobacco shipments shall not be cleared unless samples of the shipments are examined in the Kingdom's quality control laboratories to prove that they conform to the Kingdom's specifications and standards. According to the draft bill, smoking will be prevented in areas surrounding mosques, ministries, public agencies, government organizations and their branches, educational, health, cultural and sports institutions both public and private, working places in companies, establishments, banks and factories, food and beverage processing and oil production and refining areas. If and when the law becomes effective, cigarettes will not be sold to minors under 18 years of age. Article 8 of the draft bill bans all media ads and publications in the Kingdom promoting any tobacco brand. The ban is also applied to all movies, serials and documentaries telecast in the Kingdom. Anyone found violating these provisions shall be fined SR20, 000. Article 11 stipulates that anyone who is punished under any of these articles has the right to contest the verdict at the Board of Grievances within 60 days after the verdict is pronounced. __
