At the end of June (27/06) the State Duma scheduled a second reading of the Technical Regulations on Tobacco Products, but it still hasn’t managed to finalize the bill. I should point out that the second reading is the most difficult stage of drafting a bill, because this is when all the main amendments are made. (The third reading is about technicalities rather than any changes of substance.)
So anyway, during the drafting of these regulations a large number of important amendments were proposed. The document is now being thoroughly checked to make sure it’s consistent with international documents such as the Directive of the European Parliament and EU Council on the production, packaging and sale of tobacco products.
You might think at first sight that the amendments being debated are insignificant, but that’s not the case. For example, the regulations set out permissible limits for hazardous substances in unfiltered cigarettes, but there’s nothing about filter cigarettes. You might think this is a trifle, but actually it’s not, because there’s much more demand from consumers for filter cigarettes. Which means we could end up with no controls over most tobacco products. Or take, for example, the danger warnings on the packets. The law has to not only make these warnings mandatory, but also set out some standards, such as the size, form and colour of the letters, the layout, the background and even the spacing between the lines. Otherwise the tobacco manufacturers might put warnings on the packets that are too small to read. These are danger warnings and they need to be noticed!
Also, for example, I completely agree with the proposal to ban the use of terms like “light”, “ultra light”, “mild” and “low tar content” to describe cigarettes. All these crafty words are designed to mislead, and you might think that smoking those types of cigarettes is not in the least dangerous for your health.
Besides the Technical Regulations the Duma is discussing amendments to the Law on Restriction of Tobacco Smoking (Article 3). These amendments aim to bring our Russian basic law into line with the WHO (World Health Organization) convention on tobacco control. It’s mostly about improving public awareness of the dangers of tobacco. The Duma plans to review the amendments in their second reading in parallel with the Technical Regulations.
I really hope that all this anti-smoking legislation will be finalized and passed by the State Duma in the autumn session.