CAMBODIA
Cambodia’s National Assembly has instructed ministries to curb smoking in public as a government official highlights a decrease in the consumption of tobacco goods.
At the meeting on the “Leadership in Oversight on Law and Legal Tools Enforcement on Tobacco Control” in Phnom Penh, Lok Kheng, chairman of the National Assembly’s 8th Committee, said monitoring and supervision of mechanisms remained challenging. Kheng also said the challenge is due to budget constraints and lack of inspection officials to ensure that regulations are enforced.
She also noted that tax on tobacco products is still low in Cambodia when compared to neighboring countries. Citing a Ministry of Economy and Finance report published earlier this year, Keng said tobacco tax in Cambodia is at 31.1%, while in Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand tobacco tax is set at about 50-70%.
“Cambodia does not yet have strong enforcement of tobacco control mechanism to support inspection of public areas and dissemination of tobacco information,” Kheng said. “Related ministries must work together to reduce the use of tobacco products.”