“Tobacco-free Finland 2040” network, in which many health organisations and other relevant stakeholders have been involved, called for a series of concrete measures, such as “…Dramatically
reduce the number of sales points for tobacco products so that by 2020 their number has reduced to 500” (Hara & Simonen, 2013).It is not indicated how this could be realised (for example, by restricting tobacco sales to pharmacies—approximately 800 in Finland—or to the government's alcohol retail monopoly stores—approximately 350).
Before April 2009, selling tobacco products was a free enterprise for anyone, and the supervisory officials had no information on the location and number of tobacco retailers. Moreover, supervision was paid for by all taxpayers, including non-smokers, who make up 85% of the population. As of April 2009, the regulations are much tougher and facilitate the enforcement of Tobacco Act regulations, including the legal age for purchasing tobacco. The Regional State Administrative Agency maintains a license register containing the addresses of all outlets with a tobacco retail license. Local authorities grant the licenses and determine the license fees, which may vary from 100 to 180 euro. Moreover, there is an annual surveillance fee from 100 to 200 euro (‘the polluter pays’ principle), and in many cases, there is a special fee of 40-50 euro for each cashier (for example, if tobacco products are sold in many ‘points of sale’ in one shop).
All retailer applicants must present an acceptable self-monitoring plan for the sale of tobacco products and a report complying with the provisions on the location of tobacco products and tobacco accessories at the point of sales. They also must prove they can assume responsibility for the adequacy of the monitoring arrangements. Furthermore, they are obliged to have a license visible to all customers. If a customer sees tobacco being sold to minors, there is a phone number they can call to report the license number to the officials. There is also a public register on the Internet. Moreover, it is standard procedure to withdraw the license in case of offences, for example, for two weeks or a month or even permanently after serious violations, such as selling illegal (Swedish) "snus". This would not have been as easy without a license system.
Although in theory, all points of sale that operated as a ‘normal business’ and complied with the licensing requirements were granted a license, it appears that quite a number of retailers gave up selling tobacco, notably restaurants and cafes, in which tobacco retail was minor. According to the EC Special Eurobarometer survey in 2012, only 2% of the population of (ex)smokers in Finland usually purchased tobacco in restaurants, bars or pubs. Any direct effect on the availability of tobacco products is therefore not expected.
Evaluation. No published studies have evaluated changes in smoking behaviour as a function of the
reduced number of retail outlets in Finland. One study (Halonen et al., 2013) did, however, show that under the current license system (with nearly 10,000 outlets), living in close proximity to a store selling tobacco products and having one or more tobacco stores within 0.50 km (especially walking distance) from home was associated with a decreased likelihood of smoking cessation. However, this effect was only found among men who were moderate or heavy (10 or more
cigarettes daily) smokers at baseline. For women who were light smokers, some effects were in the opposite direction.
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According to the authors, reducing the availability of tobacco products is not easy, although their findings suggest that the licensing authorities should aim to decrease the number of sales outlets to increase the prevalence of smoking cessation. Another factor that could contribute to the reported associations include restrictions on tobacco advertising. In Finland, however, retail and other advertising of tobacco (or its price) had long been banned by the Tobacco Act, which suggests that local availability of tobacco products may affect smoking cessation regardless of the restrictions on tobacco advertising. Other more recent legal restrictions, such as the smoking ban ‘in the joint and public indoor premises of workplaces’, took place in 2010 and were therefore not considered to play a role in explaining the findings.
Hungary
Hungary is the first country where policy measures directly target a reduction in the number and type of tobacco retail outlets. In July 2013, a new tobacco retail system in Hungary was
introduced, in line with Act CXXXIV “on reducing smoking prevalence among young people and retail of tobacco products”, adopted by the Hungarian Parliament in September 2012.
During the interim period, on behalf of the Minister of State responsible for the regulation of state- owned store management, on 15th December 2012, a public tender was launched to apply for a retail license. All applications were invited on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender for selection of the applications. On 22 April 2013, the National Tobacco Trading Non-profit Company (a 100% Government-owned joint-stock company established by the relevant minister under the mandate of this law) published the names of the applicants who will be allowed to open supervised tobacco stores. The Act regulates access to and sales of tobacco products and aims to prevent illicit trade in such products by ensuring that they are sold through licensed shops in a supervised system (http://www.who.int/fctc/implementation/news/news_hung/en/).
It was also expected that as a result of the measures contained in the Act, it will become more difficult for young people to purchase tobacco products. Tobacco products are only allowed to be sold to people 18 years or older. If there is any doubt, official documents showing the age of the customer must be provided. Fines may be imposed if retailers do not adhere to this provision. Licenses for tobacco stores are coupled with the size of the population. In a municipality with less than 2,000 residents, the maximum is one; for more than two thousand, there is one license for every two thousand residents.In addition to tobacco products, tobacco retail stores are only authorised to sell gambling games, alcoholic drinks, energy drinks, coffee, mineral water, soft drinks, newspapers and magazines.
From 1 July 2013, approximately 7,000 such stores were allowed to operate, which is a significant reduction from the more than 40,000 retail outlets selling tobacco products before this date. Their number is currently estimated at 6,500, including 5,900 national tobacco stores and 600 ‘not assessed’ stores.
Evaluation. No evaluation studies have been conducted or planned. Some information is available
from monitoring studies, but the results must be interpreted with caution. Population surveys showed a decrease in proportion of daily smoking in the past year from 28% in 2012 to 19% in