LEGAL REGULATION OF TOBACCO AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

The contribution deals with the Slovak and the EU legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. Its primary purpose is to point out the Slovak and European legal acts which constitute the main regulatory instruments in this field using the method of analysis and synthesis. Rules of production, distribution and conditions of use of tobacco and products thereof are in the Slovak Republic contained mainly in two acts - the Act No 335/2011 Coll. on Tobacco Products and the Act No 377/2004 Coll. on the Protection of Non-smokers, as well as in special Decree No 212/2012 Coll., regulating tobacco products. Regulation of excise duty on tobacco products can be found in the Act with the same name - Act No 106/2004 Coll.. Another objective of the paper is also to draw attention to the amendment of Act on Protection of Non-smokers which entered into force on 1 July 2013. The European Union struggles with the negative consequences of smoking at the supranacional level and its institutions - the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU - are already for several years adopting legal acts to facilitate uniformity and easier interpretation of European law also in the field of legal regulation of tobacco and tobacco products. The predominant part of the existing legislation deals with the approximation of laws in areas that are closely related to the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco products, but also to the collection of taxes from these products.