Tag: Czech Republic

  • Czechia Bans HTP Flavors

    Czechia Bans HTP Flavors

    Photo: diy13

    The sale of flavored heated-tobacco products (HTPs) will be banned in the Czech Republic, effective today, reports Expats.cz. A European directive requires that EU member states incorporate the ban into their legal frameworks effective Oct. 23. The directive does not allow for a transitional period for sale of existing stock.

    Slightly more than half of HTP users prefer flavored tobacco, according to Jiri Sochor, spokesperson for JT International. Sochor noted that based on U.S. ban results, some people reverted to traditional combustible cigarettes.

    The ban will not take effect simultaneously in neighboring countries, Sochor said, noting that only Germany has introduced it. Due to this, people are likely to purchase flavored products abroad.

    Flavored heated-tobacco products generate about CZK2.9 billion ($125.16 million) in consumer taxes annually, according to Sochor.

    Companies are responding to HTP flavors ban by introducing new, tobacco-free products. British American Tobacco, for example, has begun selling heat sticks with nicotine-infused rooibos tea. Certain tobacco firms have also opposed the ban, and the legislation will be addressed by the EU Court of Justice due to complaints from Irish companies.  

  • Prague to Regulate Pouches Like Tobacco

    Prague to Regulate Pouches Like Tobacco

    Photo: Andrii

    The Czech Ministry of Health is preparing rules that would treat nicotine pouches as tobacco products, according to a Radio Prague international report.

    Nicotine pouches are currently unregulated in the Czech Republic. “We are aware of the problems this causes,” said Ministry of Health spokesman Ondřej Jakob. “We are working on a decree that would determine the properties, the labelling and the regulation of the product. We are also working on an amendment to the current legislation.”

    According to Jakob, the new decree could come into force within a few months.

    Health activists have expressed concern about the growing popularity of nicotine pouches, especially among young people, in the Czech Republic. According to Marek Lžičař, an addictologist at St. Anne’s University Hospital in Brno, children can develop an addiction in just a few weeks. 

    “The risk of addiction is huge for anyone, both for children and adults, and it shouldn’t be downplayed,” he said. “It is definitely risky behavior that could be a gateway to the use of other tobacco products. It could also lead to the use of softer or harder drugs.” 

    Experts attribute the growing use of addictive substances among children to the long social isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • EU Urged to Embrace Harm Reduction

    EU Urged to Embrace Harm Reduction

    Photo: courtyardpix

    Medical and addiction experts called on the EU to embrace tobacco harm reduction during an event organized by the Centre for Economic and Market Analysis (CETA) in Prague.

    Debating how a tobacco-free generation—where less than 5 percent of EU-citizens use tobacco—can be achieved by 2040, they concluded that the objectives laid out in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan cannot be attained under current circumstances and that a revised tobacco control policy based on scientific evidence is needed.

    “If the European Commission is serious about its plans to reduce the number of smokers and the impact of smoking, it must start considering the concept of risk reduction in the area of smoking,” said Czech National Drug Coordinator Manager Jindřich Vobořil, in a statement.

    “The Czech Government has committed itself to this approach in its program statement for the upcoming [EU] Presidency. I will also promote it in relation to the ongoing evaluation of the Tobacco Products Directive, which is an effective policy to achieve a real reduction in the number of smokers of conventional cigarettes,” he added.

    “The data show that the abstinence approach is inadequate. The solution for smokers is to switch to less harmful alternatives,” noted Ernest Groman, of the Vienna Nicotine Institute. The only European country close to the 5 percent target is Sweden. According to the experts, the low number of smokers is mainly due to the availability of less harmful alternatives.

    During the event, the CETA published a study ranking EU member states according to their ability to implement the concept of risk reduction. The Czech Republic finished second.

    The Czech government should use the upcoming EU Presidency to undertake a comprehensive review of tobacco dependence policies based on science rather than emotion, according to CETA Research Director Aleš Rod, who also sits on a Czech government advisory board.

  • Imperial Launches HnB Products in Czechia

    Imperial Launches HnB Products in Czechia

    Photo: Imperial Brands

    Imperial Brands has launched its heated-tobacco products in the Czech Republic.

    The launch is the first of two planned European pilot trials for the company’s Pulze device and iD heat sticks.

    Imperial is investing in heated-tobacco opportunities in a focused number of markets in Europe as part of its new strategy to build a targeted and sustainable next-generation product (NGP) business.

    The Czech pilot is the first step in Imperial’s approach of entering markets where the category is already established and where the business is able to leverage an existing strong route to market.

    “Heated-tobacco offers significant growth opportunities in Europe where, in many territories, it is the biggest NGP category and the fastest growing,” said Joerg Biebernick, Imperial Brands’ president of the European region, in a statement. “Detailed market testing will allow us to quickly expand our consumer insights and inform the potential to launch validated heated-tobacco products in further European markets.”

    Heated-tobacco currently accounts for around 10 percent of the total nicotine sector in the Czech Republic, with further strong growth anticipated.

    The Pulze device heats rather than burns iD heat sticks to provide nicotine and tobacco aromas containing fewer and substantially lower levels of the harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

    Unlike other heated-tobacco products, the Pulze device does not require a charging case, offering up to 20 consecutive uses. It is available in copper and silver colors.

    iD heat sticks are being made available in five flavors: Rich Bronze with rich tobacco flavor and triple flow filter technology, Balanced Blue, Mint Polar Green, Mint Ice and Capsule Polar.

  • Majority report

    Majority report

    A tobacco smoking ban in pubs and restaurants that went into force a year ago in the Czech Republic is supported by 71 percent of Czechs, according to a Radio Prague story citing the results of a poll.
    The poll, which was carried out by the Ipsos polling agency in co-operation with Charles University, found that 12 percent of respondents were vehemently against the ban.
    More than 1,000 people were surveyed.
    Surveys suggest that about a quarter of Czechs still smoke.
    The Constitutional Court recently rejected a complaint against the smoking ban that was brought on the grounds that it restricted the rights of individuals and entrepreneurs.
    And a recent move in Parliament to soften the ban also failed.

  • Smoking ban takes off

    Smoking ban takes off

    A ban on smoking and vaping came into effect at the Václav Havel Airport, Prague, Czech Republic, yesterday, according to a Radio Prague story.
    Smoking rooms in the facility’s transit areas have been closed.
    However, 14 areas near entrances to the airport’s buildings have been reserved for smokers and, presumably, vapers.
    It wasn’t clear from the story what had been the status of vaping previously – whether it had been generally allowed or confined to the smoking areas – but it is now the case that no distinction is made between smoking and vaping.
    The airport’s operator said it expected the number of smoke-free airports to grow and wished to get on board with the healthy trend.

  • Seeking room for smokers

    Seeking room for smokers

    The Czech Constitutional Court is scheduled to rule next week on a draft amendment to the country’s public-places smoking ban that took effect in May last year, according to a CTK National News Wire story relayed by the TMA.
    The amendment, proposed by MP Marek Benda of the Civic Democrats would allow hotels and other businesses to create separate smoking areas with their own ventilation systems.
    The court chairman and judge rapporteur Pavel Rychetsky has examined the amendment and the court has published the terms of announcement of its decision on its official website.
    Despite Prime Minister Andrej Babis rejecting the draft amendment, the Chamber of Deputies or the lower house of Parliament is expected to debate the proposal.
    Radio Prague reported in February that eighty-six deputies from eight parties in the Czech Republic’s lower house had put their signatures to Benda’s proposal to loosen the ban on tobacco smoking in public places.
    The report noted that as well as proposing the creation within these venues of separate smoking areas, the amendment proposed allowing the owners of bars with an area of 80 square meters or smaller to decide whether to allow smoking or not.
    Meanwhile, towards the end of March, Reuters reported that Austria’s lower house of parliament had voted to scrap an impending ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.
    The vote was a win for the coalition government and came despite opposition from health campaigners and opposition parties.
    At present, large restaurants in Austria are required to provide separate smoking and non-smoking areas, but the rules are reportedly not rigidly implemented. Smaller restaurants need not have a separate area if the owner agrees to allow smoking on the premises.
    Now that parliament has approved the bill, it has to be passed by the upper house and signed by the president. It is widely expected to pass in the upper house and to be signed into law.

  • Ban produces rapid results

    Ban produces rapid results

    The anti-smoking bill, which was introduced in the Czech Republic in May last year, has already had a positive effect on people’s health, according to a Radio Prague report citing the results of a study newly-released by the Prague-based Institute of Health Information and Data.
    The comparative study, which covered the period between June 2016 and November 2017, was said to have shown that there were more than 13 percent fewer heart attacks and 16 percent fewer patients hospitalized with heart problems. It wasn’t stated, but has to be assumed, that the drop in such hospitalizations occurred after the introduction of the bill’s smoking ban.
    Eva Králíková, the country’s leading anti-smoking campaigner, admitted that the figures were only preliminary, but said she believed that they ‘definitely show a positive trend’.
    “The institute compared the number of hospitalizations due to acute heart attack and other cardiovascular diagnoses as well as acute asthma and the decrease was significant, especially in the age group under 60, which suggests that it happened due to smoke-free legislation, said Králíková.
    There have been several attempts to turn the smoking ban into smoking restrictions, and the Lower House of Parliament is currently debating whether to pass a proposal put forward by Civic Democrat deputy Marek Benda.
    The proposal envisages creating separate smoking areas in pubs with their own ventilation, and suggests that the owners of bars with an area of 80 square meters or smaller could decide whether or not to allow smoking.
    But, at the same time, more than 2,000 Czech doctors have signed a petition opposing any attempts to re-open a debate on the smoking ban.

  • Czechs rethink ban

    Czechs rethink ban

    Eighty-six deputies from eight parties in the Czech Republic’s lower house have put their signatures to a proposal to loosen a ban on tobacco smoking at Czech pubs, restaurants and some other facilities, according to a Radio Prague story.
    The ban was introduced last year.
    The amendment, proposed by Marek Benda of the Civic Democrats, envisages the creation within these venues of separate smoking areas with their own ventilation systems.
    Benda’s proposal would allow bars with an area of 80 square meters or smaller to decide themselves whether to allow smoking or not.
    The smoking ban came in at the end of May, bringing the Czech Republic into line with many other EU states.

  • Czech smokers on the rise

    Czech smokers on the rise

    The number of Czechs who smoke cigarettes daily is on the rise, according to a story in the Prague Daily Monitor citing the latest annual report of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction (NMS).

    About 27 percent of Czechs over the age of 15, or 2.4 million people, smoked every day last year. Five years ago, the proportion of daily smokers was 23 percent.

    At the same time, more Czechs are said to be drinking alcohol daily.

    Last year, about 600,000 people drank alcohol every day and 100,000 of them drank it ‘excessively, consuming five or more glasses’.

    NSM head Viktor Mravcik said that middle-aged people rather than young people had accounted for the increase in the number of smokers.

    In the case of drinking, however, all age groups had contributed to the increase.

    The deaths of nearly 30,000 people a year are attributed to smoking and drinking in the Czech Republic.

    The report indicated that about one in three men and one in five women smoke every day, and about 30 percent of them smoke at least a pack of cigarettes a day.

    And it said that one fifth of smokers lit a cigarette within five minutes of getting up in the morning.

    Mravcik said the numbers of smokers and drinkers had gone up because tobacco and alcohol were easily available in the Czech Republic.

    And in the case of smoking, less-risky alternatives were not easily available in the country.

    Cigarettes could be bought everywhere even though they represented the most-risky use of nicotine, while the sale of snus was banned in the EU.

    At the same time, the risks of electronic cigarettes and other new products were emphasised so much that people viewed them in a distorted way, Mravcik said.

    Awareness of the risks should be better so that nicotine addicts could move from classical cigarettes to less risky products, he added.