Starting Thursday, all cigarettes sold in Bulgaria and in the entire EU must be self-extinguishing.

The European Commission announced on November 14 that the three-year deadline given to the tobacco industry to comply with the new safety standards expired on November 17.

"Evidence shows that the number of fatalities can be reduced by more than 40 percent with the introduction of 'Reduced Ignition Propensity' (RIP) cigarettes," the EC said in a statement.

According to EC statistics, lit cigarettes that are forgotten cause around 40 000 fires in Europe annually, while the new requirements believed to help save nearly 500 lives a year.

In end-October, Bulgaria's Commission for Consumer Protection (KZP) announced that it had carried out the necessary checks at warehouses and commercial sites to guarantee that old-style cigarettes were out of production.

KZP Chair Veselin Zlatev explained that the new paper would not affect the cost or the taste of cigarettes.

He urged consumers to cooperate in the application of the new safety standards and report infringements on KZP's hotline or website.