Cigarettes

Montenegro's parliament has passed a law banning smoking in public places. The Balkan country has one of the highest rates of smoking in Europe. The new law also forbids the advertising of tobacco. This report from Matt Prodger:

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But now the Montenegrin parliament has passed a law which not only forbids smokers from lighting up in public but also bans tobacco advertising and even the portrayal of smoking on television. It makes the selling of cigarettes to those under the age of eighteen punishable with an eleven thousand dollar fine.

The government said it was keen to follow the trends of more developed European nations in taking a tougher line on smoking. The ban is all the more ironic since Italian and EU investigators have accused the Montenegrin government of complicity in large scale cigarette smuggling. The prime minister himself, Milo Djukanovic, was named in a lawsuit brought by the European Union.

The new law is not expected to be enforced in Montenegro for at least another six months. But when it is, smokers there can take comfort from the fact that they can nip across the border to Serbia, where no such restrictions exist.

Matt Prodger, BBC News, Belgrade.

Listen to the words

ban
a law, or a rule which doesn’t allow you to do something

public places
any places where people gather, e.g. restaurants, offices, shops, etc.

beaten
here, refers to the fact that a higher percentage of people smoke in Turkey and Greece than in Serbia and Montenegro

passed
officially approved

lighting up
smoking (colloquial)

punishable
here, subject to a fine

accused
laid the blame on, charged

complicity
partnership in a crime or wrongdoing

smuggling
illegal import or export

be enforced
become law, be imposed

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