Ministry Calls on Parliament to Vote Against Postponing Tobacco Law Provisions

The Ministry of Health of Armenia calls on members of the National Assembly to vote against the draft law on postponing several important provisions of the law on "Reducing and Preventing Health Damage from the Use of Tobacco Products and Their Substitutes." This was reported by the Ministry of Health.

“Today, the draft law on postponing several important provisions of the mentioned act was discussed in the Economic Questions Committee of the National Assembly. During the committee meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Lena Nanushyan reiterated the government’s position that postponing these provisions would worsen the current dire situation, continuously endangering the health and lives of our thousands of citizens. The implementation of all provisions of the law is very important. The timelines for their implementation have already been delayed at the suggestion of the committee at the time of adopting the law,” the statement said.

No well-founded arguments or evidence were provided by committee members or the authors of the legislative initiative as to why the deadlines for these provisions should be postponed. The claim of a seemingly positive impact on the economy is not substantiated by any calculations, statistical data, or international experience. On the contrary, it is backed by numerous studies, including those conducted specifically for our country.

Taking into account that the aforementioned draft law lacks any health and economic justification, we call on the members of the National Assembly to vote against the draft at the plenary session,” the message adds.