AFP – The Maldives started implementing a smoking ban Saturday on anybody born after January 2007, turning into the one nation with a generational prohibition on tobacco, the Well being Ministry stated.
The transfer, initiated by President Mohamed Muizzu earlier this yr, which got here into impact on 1 November, will “shield public well being and promote a tobacco-free technology”, the ministry stated.
“Underneath the brand new provision, people born on or after 1 January 2007 are prohibited from buying, utilizing, or being offered tobacco merchandise inside the Maldives,” it added.
“The ban applies to all types of tobacco, and retailers are required to confirm age previous to sale.”
The measure additionally applies to guests to the nation of 1,191 tiny coral islets scattered some 800 kilometers (500 miles) throughout the equator and recognized for its luxurious tourism.
The ministry stated it additionally maintains a complete ban on the import, sale, distribution, possession, and use of digital cigarettes and vaping merchandise, relevant to all people no matter age.
Promoting tobacco merchandise to an underage individual carries a penalty of fifty,000 rufiyaa (USD 3,200), whereas utilizing vape gadgets carries a wonderful of 5,000 rufiyaa (USD 320).
An identical generational ban proposed in Britain remains to be going by way of the legislative course of, whereas New Zealand, the primary nation to enact such a regulation in opposition to smoking, repealed it in November 2023, lower than a yr after it was launched.
© Agence France-Presse
