Zeltner wants to retain tobacco advertising at the POS
For Thomas Zeltner, director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), a total ban on tobacco advertising is «out of the question.» However, the existing advertising restrictions would have to be expanded if Switzerland is to meet the requirements of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
For Thomas Zeltner, Director of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), a total ban on tobacco advertising is "not an issue". He said this in an interview with the Sonntagszeitung newspaper. However, the existing advertising restrictions would have to be extended if Switzerland wanted to meet the requirements of the WHO Tobacco Convention. Nevertheless, advertising at the point of sale should remain possible in his eyes. The FOPH wants to remove the tobacco chapter from the current Foodstuffs Act and create a separate Tobacco Products Act. The aim is to submit the corresponding bill for consultation next year, Zeltner continued. It is currently unclear whether it will include further-reaching advertising restrictions or youth protection provisions, i.e. no cigarettes for under 16 or 18-year-olds. The head of the FOPH considers sales bans for young people to be more promising than some prevention campaigns. The canton of Baselland introduced a corresponding legal provision on Sunday (see ).
