Supreme Court Prohibited Hookahs in Catering Establishments.

The Supreme Court has banned hookahs in public catering establishments

The Supreme Court of Ukraine has made a decision that imposes a ban on the preparation of hookahs in public catering establishments regardless of their composition. According to the court, the preparation of hookahs promotes the sale of tobacco products.

The LLC appealed to the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service with a lawsuit regarding the illegality and cancellation of the order imposing a fine for the service of preparing hookahs in the restaurant.

Courts of the first instance believed that there is no complete ban on the service of preparing hookahs in Ukraine. Since it was impossible to determine what exactly the respondent considers as stimulating the sale of tobacco products from the inspection act and the contested order, the conclusions of the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service are unlawful.

However, the Cassation Administrative Court, which is part of the Supreme Court, decided to cancel the decisions of the lower courts and reject the claim, referring to the law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, which prohibits the sale and use of tobacco products and their substitutes in public places.

The ban applies not only to smoking but also to the use of tobacco products in restaurants and other establishments. Tobacco for hookahs also falls under this ban.

Therefore, the courts of the first and appellate instances were mistaken in considering that the service of preparing hookahs in a restaurant does not fall under the ban. This effectively legalizes smoking tobacco products in public catering establishments. Thus, the order of the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service to impose a fine on LLC is legal and is not canceled.

It should be noted that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has increased the excise tax on tobacco products.

According to research, a pack of cigarettes takes away almost 7 hours of life, and one cigarette - 20 minutes.