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Saudi Arabia: Higher tax to combat smoking stressed

RIYADH: Participants of a forum organized by the Ministry of Health in Riyadh on Wednesday stressed the need for a strong legal framework to combat smoking, including imposition of a higher tax on tobacco products.

The forum, which was held in collaboration with the executive office of the Council of Health Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the World Heath Organization (WHO), also demanded allocation of sufficient funds and manpower to fight the menace, the Saudi Press Agency said.

The recommendations of the forum issued on Thursday included support to Saudi Arabia's draft of a new anti-smoking law, which would be submitted to the health ministers' council before it goes to the Executive Commission of the GCC and then to the ministers for necessary action and amendments.

The meeting also urged the GCC states that have so far not enacted antismoking laws to take necessary steps to formulate new regulations. It also called on the states that have already laws to combat smoking in place to take strong steps to close loopholes that dilute such regulations.

The meeting also decided to hold biennial meetings to assess the progress in their fight against smoking so that they can rectify shortcomings and smoothen the implementation of regulations.

The first of the biennial meetings will be held in the UAE in 2011.

The meeting also recommended that the GCC ministries of health should take steps to amend the existing regulations governing taxes so that tobacco tax could be levied systematically and effectively.

They also demanded that WHO continue supplying the guidelines and technical support to levy the tax in a manner that suits each GCC state so that tobacco consumption falls and state revenue increases.

WHO is scheduled to hold a workshop on having a tax system for tobacco for GCC states in 2011.

The meeting also stressed the importance of all GCC members to attend workshops and conferences on the protocol of combating illegal trades in Paraguay in November.

Earlier in June, the Council of Ministers urged the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to ban smoking at all airports and their facilities in the Kingdom. It also advised GACA to impose a SR200 fine on people who violate the new regulations.

Although the Kingdom passed anti-smoking regulations in August 2003, the habit is growing. There are six million smokers in the country who puff away SR8 billion every year. According to one report, smoking-related diseases kill at least 33 people in the Kingdom each month.

Saudi Arabia ranks fourth in the world in terms of cigarette consumption and 41st in terms of population. As many as 13 billion cigarettes are imported into the Kingdom every year.

About 10 percent of the Kingdom's total smokers are women and 19.3 percent are teenagers. Studies have shown that 13 to 15 percent of young men and women live with smokers and are subjected to passive smoking.

© Arab News 2010