Prosperous Armenia Supports Anti-Smoking Legislation

The Prosperous Armenia faction in the National Assembly has expressed its support for the anti-smoking legislation. This was announced by faction member Mikael Melkumyan during the discussion of the bill in the parliament.

"We are in favor of this. It will bring about a new culture and we will be able to limit the growing thirst for smoking," Melkumyan said.

He noted that during the first reading of the proposed legislation, there were certain inconsistencies regarding the commitments undertaken within the framework of the EAEU. "Now we have seen that this issue has been temporarily resolved. We had agreed that this regulation needs to be developed. Moreover, it appears that the proposers of the law have expressed a desire for Armenia to initiate the standardization of cigarette packaging across the EAEU territory," the deputy stated and suggested also considering the extent to which smoking is advertised in films produced in Armenia. He pointed out that this issue seems to remain unresolved.

The package of laws aimed at reducing and preventing health damage caused by the use of tobacco products and their substitutes proposes to ban smoking in public enclosed spaces and all public food establishments, regardless of whether those establishments are indoors or outdoors. The bill was approved in the first reading in the National Assembly on December 10, 2019. This version proposed to prohibit the use of tobacco in public enclosed and semi-enclosed areas.