With the adoption of the bill aimed at strengthening the fight against smoking in the National Assembly, electronic cigarettes will immediately be subject to the same rules as tobacco, and smoking will soon be banned on terraces in Quebec. In fact, smokers will have to submit to new constraints as early as this week, once Bill 44 receives Royal Assent (within the next few hours, barring any unforeseen circumstances), some sections will come into force.
Effective immediately
The electronic cigarette will be subject to the same rules that govern the traditional cigarette. Therefore, it will now be impossible to vape in institutions and public places such as hospitals, schools, daycares, CEGEPs and universities, but also restaurants, bars and shopping centers, for example.
Advertising of electronic cigarettes will henceforth be regulated, like advertising for tobacco. Hospitals and hotels will also have to immediately halve the number of rooms for smokers or the area reserved for smokers, to 20% of the total number.
Retailers can now require photo ID before selling a tobacco product or e-cigarettes. In return, the fines that traders could receive will be much higher. For a retailer who sells tobacco to a minor, the fine could be as high as $ 125 for a repeat offense.
In six months
Other aspects of the law will be implemented within a year. In stores, flavored tobacco products (with fruit and menthol flavors, for example) will disappear from shelves in six months. At this time, it will also become prohibited to smoke in
his car in the presence of a minor, as well as on playgrounds intended for children, including sports fields, such as soccer fields.
Restaurant owners will also have to ban smoking on their terraces within six months. In other words, next summer the terraces will be smoke free.
In a year
Finally, we will have to wait a year for the manufacturer's rebate programs to be totally banned. These programs encourage traders to sell tobacco products.
At the same time, the warning on the packaging will take up more space and will be more visible. The new standards will make it illegal to sell stylized small packages, which are very popular among young people. Smoking will also be prohibited within nine meters of the doors, air intakes and windows of all public establishments.
Source : Ici.radio-Canada.ca
