Turkish Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu confirmed that the government is drafting legislation to block tobacco sales to individuals under 18 through electronic age verification systems. The measure aims to eliminate retail non-compliance while protecting personal data privacy.
Minister Memişoğlu emphasized that tobacco use remains a major public burden, noting on social media that youth prevention is the ministry’s top focus. “Our primary goal is to verify age and prevent tobacco sales to youth under 18,” Memişoğlu stated, confirming that authorities are exploring user-friendly digital systems to achieve this.
Enforcing Law No. 4207 Through Retail Audits
The upcoming legislation does not alter Turkey’s legal age threshold. Under Law No. 4207 on the Prevention and Control of Hazards of Tobacco Products, selling tobacco to minors is already prohibited. Instead, the draft text focuses entirely on improving enforcement mechanisms at point-of-sale terminals.
The proposal is scheduled for presentation to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in the coming weeks. Technical specifications for the digital verification framework and the official implementation timeline have not yet been finalized.
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