The sale of cigarettes from indoor and outdoor vending machines will be outlawed throughout Israel from the beginning of next year, according to a story by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich.
The law was originally passed in August 2011, but its implementation was postponed until the beginning of 2014 because vending companies said they needed time to adjust to the new regulations. Theoretically, cigarette vending machines could be retrofitted to sell other items.
In enforcing the law, Siegel-Itzkovich wrote, the Health Ministry was fulfilling Israel’s responsibilities regarding vending machines to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which the country had approved and ratified.
Although Israel had ratified the convention in August 2005, it had not implemented all the FCTC’s provisions, she wrote.
And, according to Siegel-Itzkovich, even some anti-tobacco laws that have been passed are not enforced.