Loose change

It is now illegal to sell single cigarettes on the Maldives, according to a story in The Maldives Independent.

The ban, which came into force on Saturday, is the first provision of the January 2019 regulation on tobacco-products pack design and labeling to come into effect.

Other provisions, including graphic health warnings on tobacco-products packaging, are due to come into effect later this year.

From November 1, it will be illegal to sell tobacco products without graphic health warnings.

The ban on the sale of loose cigarettes and the graphic-images requirement were drawn up two years ago, but their introduction was delayed until a new government took over.

The sale of single cigarettes needed to be banned because “it is a tactic mainly used to lure children and young adolescents into smoking,” Dr Aishath Aroona, vice chair of the Tobacco Control Board, told the Maldives Independent after the regulation on packaging and labeling of tobacco products was submitted to the president’s office for approval in September 2017.

Meanwhile, in May 2019, Malé City Council decided to introduce a ban on smoking on the streets of the Maldives capital. It is due to take effect six months after the council enacts new regulations, according to the council.

The country’s 2010 Tobacco Control Act prohibits smoking in government offices, parks, sports stadiums, public transport, childcare or educational facilities and designated non-smoking areas in restaurants. The law did not include streets and roads in its definition of a public space.