Valeri Simeonov and the deputies from the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB) reintroduce to the National Assembly amendments to the Health Act, which provide for a ban on hookah smoking indoors.

We recall that the bill received full support for the first vote. On the second vote, however, after GERB withdrew, only part of the changes were accepted. Parliament banned minors from using hookahs and buying tobacco for them, but without clear and logical reasons, it did not accept the introduction of the ban on hookah smoking indoors.

NSPB deputies are now pushing for a ban on hookah smoking in closed public places, with the motives that it causes serious harm to the human organism. The user of a water pipe (nargile) breathes toxic substances, which are also found in standard cigarettes, but in the hookah, the coals that ignite the mixture increase the damage to health, damaging a number of systems of the human body.

The final provision of the draft law provides for the law to enter into force for three days in the course of a positive decision by the European Commission under a notification procedure undertaken by the Minister of Economy together with the Minister of Health according to the relevant European directives.