Swiss Parliament Rejects Proposal to Ban Tobacco Advertisements

Regulations by 2FIRSTS.ai
Mar.05.2024
Swiss Parliament Rejects Proposal to Ban Tobacco Advertisements
Swiss Parliament rejects proposal to ban tobacco and e-cigarette ads, sparking debate among political parties. Future uncertain.

According to persoenlich report, the Swiss parliament rejected the proposal for a ban on tobacco advertising aimed at children and adolescents, with a vote of 121 to 64 (5 abstentions). The proposal sought to completely ban the advertising of tobacco products and e-cigarettes, and had received majority support from voters in a national referendum in February 2022.

 

Currently, the proposal is set to be sent back to the Senate. If the Senate rejects it again or if the House of Representatives opposes it a second time, the proposal will come to an end. At that point, Parliament will need to come up with a new plan to implement the new constitutional provisions.

 

According to reports, there is a clear division among political parties regarding the vote on the proposal. The Swiss People's Party (SVP) criticizes the Federal Council's draft for exceeding the scope of the original proposal, believing that the law would be unenforceable and unreasonable in practice. On the other hand, the Social Democrats (SP) and the Green Party are trying to push for strict enforcement of the proposal to achieve a complete ban on tobacco advertising. They argue that the current parliamentary decision ignores the will of the people.

 

In such a division, the proposal ultimately faced rejection in the legislature.

 

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