Draft Law to Control Smoking in Saudi Arabia

The Shoura Council considered on Monday a draft law aimed at controlling smoking in the Kingdom. The law includes a penalty of SR500 for those who smoke inside airports; a ban on the cultivation of tobacco and the production of products that contain tobacco; designating public places like mosque courtyards and sports venues as no-smoking zones; increasing tariffs on imported tobacco products adding warning labels to tobacco products; and banning sale of tobacco to minors.

“There should (instead) be organized awareness campaign against smoking in schools and mosques,” he said.

According to the Euromonitor International, sales of tobacco in the Kingdom have remained unchanged following Saudi Arabia’s signing of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004 and the government’s subsequent decision to ban smoking in public places, a law that has not been effectively enforced.

Gulf states have begun to enact anti-smoking legislation in the last few years as they look to cut the number of people smoking.

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