Militiamen will be instructed to issue fines for smoking

The WHO began holding training seminars for militiamen to teach law enforcement officers how to impose fines for smoking where prohibited. District militia officers will participate in the seminars. As reported by the coalition of NGOs “For a tobacco smoke free Ukraine,” these seminars are designed to explain all the aspects of the Law of Ukraine “On measures to prevent and reduce the use of tobacco products and their harmful effects on human health,” adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on September 22, 2005, with amendments in accordance with the Law of Ukraine No. 1512-VI of June 11, 2009 and No. 1824 of January 21, 2010.

Trainings were already held in Kyiv on July 15 and in Donetsk on August 4. Cherkasy (September 6-7) and Lviv (September 15) will be the next cities. “By the end of the year training sessions in most regional centers of Ukraine will have been held,” said Hanna Hopko, a representative of the coalition of NGOs “For a tobacco smoke free Ukraine,” “as monitoring the implementation of the law is a major priority for the public.” In addition, on August 13, 2010, the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine sent out orders to regional administrations of internal affairs regarding their cooperation with NGOs and holding common seminars.

“Strangely enough, many law enforcement officers not only did not understand that they were to impose fines for smoking in the wrong places, they hadn’t even heard of it before,” said Serhii Honcharov, the head of the NGO partnership. “That is why we had to start holding seminars explaining how harmful passive smoking is, and why in other countries fines for smoking in places where it is prohibited are a common thing.”

Law enforcement officers will also conduct raids to control the sale of cigarettes by the piece. The penalty for smoking in a smoke-free area ranges from 51 to 170 hryvnias. Repeated violations committed during one year will result in a fine of 170 to 340 hryvnias.