The Kazakh parliament, Majilis, approved a bill on ratifying WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, reports the national news agency Kazinform.

The bill had been introduced by health minister Anatoly Dernovoy. Kazakhstan has already made significant steps towards the implementation of the WHO regulations regarding tobacco manufacturing, advertising and consumption. Recently, amendments to the law on advertising were let through the parliamentary procedures imposing a total ban on outdoor ads of tobacco products and indirect promotion. Earlier, tobacco ads had been already outlawed from billboards, front pages of publications, at social and sports events, on radio, TV and transport vehicles. However, there are a number of requirements that the country still has to comply with, e.g. the expansion of health warnings and designating the product ingredients on cigarette packs. (vt)