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The Ministry of Health proposes to amend the Tobacco Control Law to prohibit all types of tobacco consumption in public places, including nightclubs, open recreational areas, and specially designated areas of PECO stations. In addition to regular cigarettes, these restrictions also include e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters and hookahs. Representatives of HoReCa consider the draft law cynical and say that the authorities’ aim is not to protect the health of citizens, but to show that Moldova has the strictest anti-tobacco laws.
Health Minister Ara Nemerenko said the bill is on the government’s agenda: “According to our data, the use of e-cigarettes has increased among young people and adolescents in the country. Our mission is to form the right social behavior. We will place prohibition signs everywhere: in parks, public transport stops, restaurant terraces and all open spaces.”
Nemerenko stressed that civil society and the business environment were consulted during the drafting of the document. However, those who are directly affected by the changes – representatives of HoReCa – denied the minister’s statement and said that they learned about the move only after the fact.
In an interview with Logos Press, Dumitru Cebotărescu (owner of “Trattoria”, “Star Kebab”, “MuzCafe”, “Don Taco” and “La Roma Club”) mentioned that the ban on the consumption of tobacco products, especially hookah, will seriously affect the HoReCa market segment.
“The principle of connected vessels is valid in any situation of a ban: if the number decreases somewhere, it increases somewhere else. We observed this phenomenon during the pandemic, when during the quarantine, restaurant customers gathered for shisha parties in private homes or played behind closed doors in the establishments of irresponsible owners. Some entrepreneurs suffered losses, while others continued to take advantage of the situation, circumventing bans and fines. I believe that this situation may now repeat itself and shadow businesses will benefit again”, says Dumitru Cebotărescu.
According to Angela Mihailovskaia, owner of the “Coffee House” restaurant chain, if the consumption of cigarette substitutes on open-air terraces is banned, cafes will disappear from the HoReCa sector.
“Only pizzerias and family cafes will remain. We have places with monthly rents of more than 100 thousand lei, and these spaces are economically profitable only because of shisha. Without this element, which has become an important part of coffee culture, it would be simpler to focus on “coffee to go”, the businesswoman said.
According to importers, the Moldovan hookah market is about 100 tons of hookah mixtures per year. If the Ministry of Health’s initiative is approved, these quantities will not decrease, but will go into the dark economy. From the excise tax alone, at the minimum rate, the budget will lose 20 million lei, not including VAT and other taxes.
Dmitry Strusovsky, owner of the “Casa del Tabaco” chain, believes that tobacco smuggling in Moldova is already a serious problem.
“This is particularly evident in the case of e-cigarettes, the circulation of which remains uncontrolled. We are talking about multi-million dollar transactions, which are not yet subject to controls, including taxation. The same could happen with flavored e-cigarettes, which the Ministry of Health recommends banning from 2026. The authorities have not specified how this will be controlled, given the flow of contraband from the Transnistrian region,” said Dmitri Strusovski.
Aneta Zasavişchi, a public policy expert in the field of HoReCa, believes that since 2016, legislators have taken a rather cynical stance on anti-tobacco regulations.
“I say this because, in our case, the authorities’ commitment to combat smoking is not for the benefit of citizens, but to show that in Moldova we have the strictest anti-tobacco law. In fact, it does not work because it is not backed up by other measures than the ban. Isn’t it cynical to allow the sale of a product but not its consumption? What does it mean to ‘push’ smokers into a grey area? Or to create a potential source of revenue to collect fines as needed for the state budget?”.
Market operators stressed that the EU tobacco control directive, on which Moldovan legislation is based, is of a recommendatory nature and will not be applied everywhere according to a single model. In the West, there are different anti-smoking models, but they are all implemented taking into account the interests of the economy and citizens.
source: logos-pres.md
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