Tobacco.org

Hamish Champ: Smiling and smoking in the Czech Republic 

Three years ago I undertook my first ever brewery tour when along with members of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers I was shown round the Budweiser Budvar brewery in the Czech Republic.

Last week I was a guest of the nice people from Budvar for a second time . . .

What I am sure of though is that after sitting in a series of smoky bars for several hours - the Republic has yet to ban smoking in its pubs - I realise and appreciate the difference a smoking ban has on my own ability to breathe clearly.

Waking up after a night out in Ceske Budjovice my non-smoking lungs were wheezing like an old steam engine on its last legs, my hacking cough a fitting testament to the dozen or so fags-worth of secondhand smoke I must have inhaled during my time in a number of hostelries.

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Czech September Inflation Rate Rises, Led by Tobacco (Update2)  

The Czech inflation rate rose in September, driven by tobacco products, in what economists say is a temporary surge before it drops to the central bank's target as expected. . . .

Rising the most were prices of tobacco products that increased 4.6 percent from the previous month due to the delayed impact of an excise tax boost.

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Czech July Inflation Rate Rises on Gas, Tobacco (Update2)  

Czech inflation accelerated in July for the first time in six months on higher prices for natural gas, cigarettes and vacation packages. . . .

cigarette prices rose 2.1 percent as producers began to run out of stocks built up before the excise tax on tobacco was raised in January.

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MfD: Philip Morris raises cigarette prices 

Philip Morris, the biggest cigarette producer on the Czech market, has kicked off a cigarette price hike in the Czech Republic, raising its prices by Kc8 per pack, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote Tuesday.

Other producers are likely to follow, MfD writes.

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Czech Cigarette Maker Reflects Higher Tax in Prices, Dnes Says 

Philip Morris CR AS has started to reflect a January increase in the Czech excise tax by raising prices of cigarettes, Mlada Fronta Dnes reported.

Imperial Tobacco CR, Philip Morris's competitor, expects to raise its retail prices by the end of September

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• Night & Day: No butts about it 

The Association of Restaurants and Hotels in the Czech Republic recently announced that more than 260 non-smoking establishments are now operating in Prague — a sign of either progress or Californication, depending on one’s perspective.

However, if you ask the Česká Koalice Proti Tabáku (Czech Coalition Against Tobacco), and exclude coffee shops and Internet cafés from your request, the number plummets to something like 49. And many of those, such as Ambiente on Mánesova and Ferdinanda near the museum, merely cordon off a nonsmoking section.

Nothing wrong with that approach, but it hardly suggests a trend. There are, however, a few very good and completely (or largely) smoke-free places in town. A sampling:

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• Czechs spend more on tobacco, alcohol than on health  

Czechs spend more on tobacco, alcohol and other unhealthy habits than on the protection of their health, according to a report on health care worked out within the Round table project and released.

Czechs do not like cash payments in health care apart from their health insurance.

"People expect that all their health problems to be solved by somebody else and desirably for free if they pay health insurance," Stanislav Vachek, analyst of the Round table on the future of the health care system's funding project.

In EU countries, households spend two to five percent of their budget on health.

Czech households spent 1.5 times more on tobacco, alcohol and other unhealthy habits than on health.

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Tobacco May Be Harmful to Your Intelligence ($$) 

When politicians warn that smoking bans will hurt businesses, don’t bother asking them for proof.

You have reached a premium content area of TOL [p]

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• Quarter of Czechs steadily smoking - survey  

Prague- Some one-quarter of Czechs are smokers and the proportion has remained unchanged over the past decade, according to a survey conducted by the State Health Institute (SZU) last year and unveiled by Ladislav Csemy from the Prague Psychiatric Centre today.

In 2007, smokers accounted for 26.6 percent of the total Czech population, while the figure was 26.2 percent ten years ago, Csemy said.

Some 3.4 percent of Czechs smoke occasionally, he added.

The figures are to highlight the World No Tobacco Day 2008 to be held on May 31.

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Czech Philip Morris sees no reason for further tax rises on cigarettes 

Czech tobacco group Philip Morris CR sees no reason for further tax hikes on cigarettes in the next several years after the last rise at the start of the year, weekly Euro reported, citing the group's new CEO.

"After a rise in the consumer tax in January 2008, the Czech Republic fulfilled and passed the minimum tax, and therefore we do not see a reason for raising the rate for several years," Euro quoted Alvise Giustiniani as saying in an interview.

The tobacco group's Czech market share has eroded in recent years amid fiercer competition and tax hikes on cigarettes

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• LN: Austria takes tough stance on cigarette imports 

Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on persons bringing Czech cigarettes to Austria and in addition they confiscate all the non-permitted cigarettes they find, the daily Lidove noviny wrote Tuesday.

Czechs taking out more than one carton of Czech cigarettes while travelling for holiday to Croatia via Austria could be severely punished because the Austrian customs officials have started imposing tough fines on all drivers who violate "the tobacco law" while crossing the Austrian border, the paper says.

Under the law, passed shortly before the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area without border checks last December, one person can only take out 200 pieces of cigarettes with the Czech-language health warning message while travelling from the Czech Republic to Austria.

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• Právo: Foreigners raid Czech cigarette market  

Foreigners buy roughly one-fourth of the 73 billion pieces of cigarettes annually sold in the Czech Republic where tobacco products are still cheaper than in Germany or Austria despite the gradual increase, the daily Pravo writes today.

A cigarette shopping spree is widespread in the border areas, Pravo writes.

"Last year, foreigners took some 5.6 billion cigarettes out of the Czech Republic. Conversely, some 1.8 billion cigarettes were taken to the Czech Republic from Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia," Kamil Provaznik, an executive of the company Imperial Tobacco, told the paper.

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• Sparks flying in cigarette dispute 

Industry and Trade Minister Martin Říman is now calling on groups afflicted by Austria’s limit on Czech cigarette imports, like the “trafika” newsstands dotting the border, to sue the country through the European Union legal system.

Austrians are allowed to bring only 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars or 250 grams of loose tobacco home from their visits to the Czech Republic — limits that technically should apply only to non-EU states. For member states, the EU sets guideline levels four times higher.

“This is not about getting more money to flow into the state treasury. It’s a matter of principle,” said Tomáš Bartovský, spokesman for the Industry and Trade Ministry. “[In this case] one EU member state is restricting the free trade of goods from another member state.”

It’s atypical for member states to file complaints against each other, hence Říman’s plea to tobacconists, Bartovský added.

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PRUCHA: Smoking habits 

Although I feel like I’ve answered Anna’s question appropriately, given the moment, I wonder how long it will be before questions about smoking come up again. As we traipse through the city on our way home, we pass several smokers and I note that Anna is at eye level with a cigarette butt held when walking.

Several years ago when I taught English to 8-year-old Michal, he always made a show of pointing, making loud coughing sounds and exclamatory cries of “How disgusting!” in English whenever we encountered someone with a cigarette. While I was embarrassed by the fervor of Michal’s reactions, I had no idea how my feelings would change once I became a mother myself. . . .

According to a recent survey, most Czechs (59%) are in favor of a ban on smoking in restaurants, although a much smaller number (39%) would support smoke-free environments in bars and cafes. However, despite several recent attempts, the Czech Parliament has yet to muster enough votes to pass a smoking ban. One of the strongest opponents is the current Czech President, V�clav Klaus. In spite of being a non-smoker himself, Klaus has repeatedly thrown his weight against the proposed smoking ban in restaurants, sighting it as on infringement on a citizen’s privacy and refusing to acknowledge the harm of second-hand smoke. Although Klaus’s behavior has certainly made passing the legislation much more difficult, the trend in other European countries like Italy and Ireland, and some larger cities including Paris and Berlin, is decidedly anti-smoking and I hope, sooner rather than later, the Czech Republic will join the “in-crowd” of EU member states with smoking regulations.

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Poll: Most Czechs call for more smoking restrictions  

Most Czechs support further restrictions of smoking at public places, according to a poll conducted by the STEM agency on April 1-8 on 1341 respondents and released to CTK Friday.

Two-thirds of respondents want restaurants to be obliged to build solid walls dividing smoking and non-smoking zones.

A total of 57 percent wish a law that would ban smoking at all public places, including restaurants, cafes and discos.

A total ban on smoking in restaurants and other public places is supported mainly by smoking opponents (89 percent). Moreover, 23 percent of tolerant smokers and 17 percent of chain smokers would accept it.

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