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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Expert conference on smoking control opened

Belgrade, 30 January 2006

Serbian Assistant Minister of Health Snezana Simic stated today that smoking prevention will be improved in the upcoming years although the state doesn't have enough inspectors to punish all those who break the new Law on the prohibition of smoking in closed areas.

Snezana Simic

Author: Beta

Opening an expert conference held on the occasion of the National Day of the Fight Against Smoking, January 31, Simic recalled that this law was adopted in December last year and prescribes fines between 5,000 dinars and 500,000 dinars. Inspectors of labour, health and sanitation are in charge of the supervision of the law's implementation.

The Assistant Minister warned that half of the citizens of Serbia are smokers and announced a battle to make smoking less popular, a process where health workers will be in the front line.

One of the first steps in the fight against smoking will be a performance called "Serbia without tobacco smoke" which will be held in the Knez Mihailova Street on January 31 between 12 and 2 pm. The event will be organised by the Ministry of Health, the Milan Batut Institute for Health Care and the Serbian Public Health Association.

She announced that young members of the Red Cross of Savski Venac municipality will take part in the performance, as well as nurses from the Savski Venac health centre and workers of the Milutin Ivkovic health centre from Palilula.

Director of the Belgrade department of the Milan Batut Institute Tanja Knezevic said that smoking is one of the causes of environmental pollution, and head of the Serbian Public Health Association Miloje Coveljic spoke in the favour of schools and health centres free of tobacco smoke.

Today's conference was convened following the recent ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organisation, in which the state union of Serbia-Montenegro committed to apply all provisions of the Convention over the next five years.

The draft strategy of tobacco control in Serbia prescribes all measures for the fight against tobacco, and some of them have already been incorporated into new regulations - the Law on the prohibition of smoking in closed areas, the Law on advertising, and the Law on tobacco.