The Russian government supports the draft law on criminal liability for the re-sale of tobacco and nicotine-containing products to minors, provided that this document is finalized taking into account the comments made, it follows from the official recall of the Cabinet of Ministers, which is available to RIA Novosti.
The bill was prepared by a group of State Duma deputies, including the head of the Duma Committee on Youth Policy Artem Metelev, the head of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Maxim Topilin and Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy.
The document provides for amendments to Article 151.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The deputies propose, by analogy with alcohol, to establish criminal liability for the repeated retail sale of tobacco products, tobacco products, nicotine-containing products or raw materials for their production, hookahs and devices for the consumption of nicotine-containing products to minors.
"The Government of the Russian Federation supports the draft law on condition that it is finalized taking into account the comments made," the official response of the Cabinet of Ministers says.
The government, in particular, noted that additional funds from the budgets will be required to implement the provisions of the draft law, therefore the document should be finalized taking into account the requirements of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation.
The Cabinet of Ministers also drew attention to the fact that the wording "retail sale" used in the draft law does not correspond to the provisions of the article of the Code of Administrative Offences providing for liability for the sale of specified products to a minor, and with the provisions of the relevant article of the law "On Protecting the Health of Citizens from exposure to ambient tobacco smoke."
In addition, the government pointed out that the explanatory note to the draft law currently does not contain statistical data and analysis of law enforcement practice, indicating an increase in cases of committing an offense under the specified article of the Administrative Code, including repeatedly.
In general, the proposed bill does not contradict acts of higher legal force, including the provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, the government said.
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