Deputies in the National Assembly of the RS adopted the Draft Law on the Protection of the Population from Tobacco Products and Other Smoking Products, which, among other things, introduces a ban on smoking in closed public spaces in the smaller Bosnia and Herzegovina entity of the RS.
The ban should enter into force in a year, because the SNSD amendment to move the implementation of the law from six months to one year was accepted.
54 deputies voted for the adoption of this proposal, one was against, while two abstained.
Speaking about the amendments, Alen Šeranić, Minister of Health and Social Protection of the RS, said that the SNSD amendments were accepted and that they were all accepted.
SNSD, let’s recall, among other things, proposed to exclude nicotine pouches from the word “other” from the ban on smoking tobacco, tobacco and other smoking products in closed public spaces, because they believe that this is justified due to the fact that they are consumed in a different way and do not affect the environment.
As for the amendments of the United Srpska, and there were four of them, Šeranić said that the first amendment was rejected, which requested that the premises for games of chance be exempted from the smoking ban, while catering facilities remain.
Šeranić added that those spaces where a large number of people stay are also law and that excluding those spaces would violate the principle of equality.
The second amendment was also rejected, which requested that “smoking may be allowed in rooms in catering establishments for accommodation of the hotel type, which may be marked with a smoking permit sign in such rooms and which make up less than 50 percent of the total number of rooms, as well as in a facility where games of chance are exclusively held, where the owner of the facility may designate the area for holding games of chance as a smoking area with a special sign.”
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health and Welfare accepted the third and fourth amendments of the US.
In the third amendment, the United Srpska requested that in Article 23, which refers to advertising, after paragraph 7, paragraph 8 be added, which states that tobacco, tobacco products and others for consumption can be displayed in sales facilities via counters (kiosks) in such a way that they are exposed on the smaller side of the packaging, and they requested that cigarettes cannot be bought at kiosks in such a way that customers can take the goods themselves.
Smoking at the airport was accepted by the Government, but the MPs refused
Regarding the two amendments submitted by Spomenka Stevanović from Demos, the first was not accepted, while the second was partially accepted, namely that smoking is allowed at airports in specially designated rooms.
Stevanović’s proposal that the ban does not apply to special, smoking rooms for accommodating guests, as well as in catering establishments where food is served, where a special room for smokers would be made, was rejected, as well as that the director of the company can make a decision on the permission to smoke, and that the rooms where smoking is allowed should be physically separated and that it is forbidden to serve food in them.
“The proposal of amendment two is partially accepted, so that in Article 7, after paragraph 3, only a new paragraph 4 is added, and not as requested by Mrs. Stevanović 4, 5, 6 and 7. According to the paragraph we accept, smoking is allowed at the airport and in a special smoking area. Also, with an amendment in accordance with this part of the amendment, in Article 7 in paragraphs 4 and 5, the words ‘in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this article’ are replaced by the words ‘in paragraph 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this article’, while the previous paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 now become paragraphs 5, 6 and 7”, said Šeranić.
Spomenka Stevanović, president of the Club of Deputies Demos-SPS, said that she was sorry that the Government of the RS did not listen to this case.
“These amendments went in the direction of a more flexible application of this law, such as in the Federation of BiH and Serbia, where limited smoking would be allowed, but with the protection of others,” she stated.
She asked for a statement on both amendments, and since the deputies did not accept the amendments, then the second amendment, which concerns the permission to smoke at airports in specially designated rooms, was automatically rejected.
Let us remind you that in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the law on the protection of the population from tobacco products and other smoking products provides for a similar ban on smoking in closed public spaces, but with greater flexibility. Smoking is prohibited in most public indoor spaces, but designated smoking areas may be provided in facilities such as hotels, restaurants and airports. The goal is to protect non-smokers, but with the possibility of limited smoking in specially defined areas.
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