Theme of World No Tobacco Day: Smoke-free Youth

Legislation should be enacted to set up the burden of proof for cigarette sellers and require them to provide evidence that they have not provided cigarettes to minors, so as to overcome the shortcomings of poor supervision.

May 3 1 day is 19 World No Tobacco Day, and June 1 day is a traditional international children's day.

Avoiding minors' exposure to tobacco and "not selling cigarettes to minors" are not only important contents of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but also guidelines recognized by national laws. As early as the19th century, American federal states passed strict anti-smoking legislation, including prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors and smoking in public places. Offenders will be imprisoned, fined and even deprived of the right to work in decent departments such as government agencies and banks. Romania also passed a decree on 197 prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to teenagers under 16.

China has always attached great importance to the control of smoking among minors, and laws and regulations also prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors, but it is too abstract and not targeted enough.

The Tobacco Monopoly Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that "teenagers are discouraged from smoking and primary and secondary school students are prohibited from smoking", but there is no provision prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. The Law on the Protection of Minors in People's Republic of China (PRC) only contains the content of "preventing and stopping minors from smoking", and there is no provision prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to minors. The Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency clearly stipulates that "business premises shall not sell alcohol and tobacco to minors", but there are no specific sanctions.

Relying on local laws and regulations to refine sanctions has become a new trend. Chongqing, Chengdu and Wuhan have passed relevant local laws and regulations. For example, the Regulations on the Administration of Tobacco Monopoly in Chongqing, which was implemented in 2000, stipulates that all tobacco sales outlets are strictly prohibited from selling cigarettes to minors. Violators shall be ordered by the department of tobacco monopoly administration to make corrections within a time limit, and those who refuse to make corrections shall be fined in 50 yuan. The Regulations on the Administration of Tobacco Monopoly in Sichuan Province, implemented on 200 1, also clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to sell tobacco products to minors, and offenders will be fined from 50 yuan to 200 yuan; Those who have been punished for more than two times can revoke their tobacco monopoly and retail licenses, and Beijing has also passed similar local regulations.

But what is the effect of the ban? The reporter's investigation found that 139 1 eye-catching cigarette sales points were found within 25 square kilometers under the jurisdiction of Beijing 10 sub-district office, of which 99.3% did not display the sign of "No Smoking for Minors". The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau announced the latest results of a sampling survey of more than 20,000 students in 2005: the smoking rate was 6.8%. Among them, the smoking rate of college and middle school students is 8.21%; The smoking rate of boys is11.9%; The smoking rate of female students is 1.5%.

The key point is that the ban can't be supervised, so that the implementation of "not selling cigarettes to minors" can only rely on the "consciousness" of cigarette sellers. Imagine that only 10 street has 139 1 cigarette selling points. How many cigarette selling points should there be in Beijing and China? Relying on tobacco management departments, educational institutions, families and the media is obviously not the best way because of its limited strength and limited time and space.

In fact, we should legislate to set the burden of proof for cigarette sellers and ask them to provide evidence that they have not provided tobacco to minors, so as to overcome the shortcomings of poor supervision.

Setting the burden of proof by legislation can effectively restrain and restrict the sales behavior of cigarette sellers and supervise their honesty and law-abiding. Under the burden of proof, cigarette sellers must provide evidence that they have not sold cigarettes to minors. Therefore, cigarette sellers must take the initiative to configure legal signs such as "Do not sell cigarettes to minors" and obtain material evidence recognized by tobacco management departments; It can kill two birds with one stone by actively checking the identity documents of minors, obtaining community witnesses who are law-abiding and have no interest in themselves, controlling the source of smoking of minors and reducing the supervision investment of the government, society and families.

According to the newspaper, in view of the rampant online cigarette sales, not long ago, the representative of the White House proposed that the website must obtain a business license issued by the government department before it can sell cigarettes to consumers. Online cigarette sellers will be forced to provide proof that they have not sold cigarettes to minors under 18 in the future. At the same time, the smoking population in China is showing a terrible trend of younger age.

Although the details of the burden of proof remain to be discussed, it is better to legislate as soon as possible to set the burden of proof for cigarette sellers.