The State Duma at the plenary session rejected the bill of deputies from the Liberal Democratic Party on the prohibition of smoking at public transport stops and at the entrances of houses.
The bill proposed to expand the list of places where a ban on tobacco smoking or consumption of nicotine-containing products would apply. The authors proposed banning smoking at public transport stops and within five meters of them, as well as at shops and other organizations located in apartment buildings. It was also about the entrances.
According to the authors, smoking is currently prohibited in metro stations, railway stations, bus stations and airports. "However, there are no such prohibitions at public transport stops in the open air, designed to stop buses, trams, trolleybuses and minibuses. In addition, in practice, there is a situation where organizations or shops are located on the first floors of apartment buildings, near which people constantly smoke, which interferes with comfortable living on the second floors or in neighboring apartments on the first floors," the explanatory note says.
As stated in the conclusion of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection (available to TASS), the explanatory note to the draft does not contain information "on the insufficient effectiveness of current bans on tobacco smoking or consumption of nicotine-containing products in certain territories." In addition, the Committee notes that regional authorities have the right to impose additional restrictions on tobacco smoking, consumption of nicotine-containing products, or the use of hookahs in certain public places and indoors.
"In law enforcement practice, when bringing to administrative responsibility violators of the proposed additional prohibitions, difficulties may arise in connection with defining the boundaries of areas where smoking is prohibited," the conclusion says.
Source: