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(Sulkhan Bordzikashvili/OC Media)

A ban in Georgia on smoking in public spaces has been delayed for one year, and will now come into force from 1 May 2018, the author of the package of amend­ments told jour­nal­ists on 2 May.

Guguli Maghradze, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream, said that par­lia­ment and the gov­ern­ment had reached an agreement to delay enforce­ment of the new reg­u­la­tions.

‘We also agreed to allow smoking in casinos and “smoking-bars” if they obtain the proper license’, Maghradze remarked.

She said that she is nego­ti­at­ing with hotels to arrange non-smoking rooms from 1 January 2018, with 20% of rooms remaining for smokers.

Maghradze suggested banning smoking in offices from 1 September 2017, as they do not need time to make prepa­ra­tions for the ban.

The World Health Organ­i­sa­tion and United Nations Devel­op­ment Programme (UNDP) held a joint press-con­fer­ence on 2 May in support of the draft amend­ments.

‘The economic pro­duc­tiv­i­ty losses from tobacco use are approx­i­mate­ly ₾455 million ($187 million) annually (86% of the total burden), while health-care expen­di­tures on tobacco-related disease is ₾73.5 million ($30 million) (14% of the total)’, reads the statement issued by UN office in Georgia, adding that if Georgia imple­ment­ed the proposed package of amend­ments, it could save about ₾27 million ($11 million) a year.

‘Case studies from other countries in the region indicate that a total ban on smoking in restau­rants and bars is likely to have a neutral to positive impact on revenue for the hos­pi­tal­i­ty sector in the short- to medium-term. Employ­ment gains are more likely for this sector than job losses’, the statement continues.

They also claim that tobacco costs the Georgian economy roughly 2% of GDP every year.

According to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Drugs, in 2015, 43% of children under 16 had smoked at least once. The figure is higher among boys (54%) than in girls (30%).

Twelve percent of Georgian school­child­ren are regular smokers, with 4% of school­child­ren claiming to have began smoking before turning 13.

According to the NCDC, 11,000 people die in Georgia every year due to smoking tobacco. The World Health Organ­i­sa­tion puts the global death toll from smoking at around 6 million people every year.

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