Länsrapport 2011 - Statens folkhälsoinstitut

14 LÄNSRAPPORT 2011
of the self-regulation programmes fulfilled their purpose, i.e. that they had
routines to ensure adherence to the rules governing the sale of tobacco products.
The municipalities visited 7,326 retail outlets for tobacco products,
an increase of 10% compared to 2010. Since response rate varies over the
period, the comparison must be viewed with a degree of caution. The 39%
of the municipalities that made no supervision visits in 2011 stated that the
municipality had given the work lower priority.
The police are a new supervising authority for trade in tobacco products.
Only 40% of the municipalities stated that they cooperated on a continuous
basis with the police on supervision, despite the fact that the law requires it.
Cooperation between police and municipality needs to be improved.
The municipalities’ new supervision responsibility concerning the labelling
of tobacco products resulted in an increase in the number of sanctions
in 2011. In 2011, 65 decisions on administrative sanctions were notified
for the retail trade in tobacco products.
Smoke-free schoolyards
Efforts to increase adherence to the Tobacco Act with regard to the prohibition
of smoking in schoolyards are given particular emphasis in the
Government’s ANDT strategy. Smoking still occurs in most of the country’s
schoolyards, despite it being prohibited since 1994.
Questions about the inspections of schools have been asked since 2008.
There has been a significant increase in inspections of schools since then. In
2008, 8 per cent, or 23 municipalities, visited schools in this respect. This
compares to 2011, when almost 22 percent of municipalities reported that
they had inspected schools. The comparison should be made with caution
as the response rate for 2008 was significantly lower than for 2011. The
number of schools that were inspected in 2011 still has to be considered
low, totaling 518 of the country’s more than 5 600 schools. The 196 municipalities
that stated that they had not made any inspections in 2011 said
that the work had low priority and they had neither resources nor structure
for it.
More municipalities should also use structured supervision records and
administrative sanctions to cope with the poor adherence to the law.
Dissemination of the Government’s ANDT strategy
The Government’s ANDT strategy, which was adopted in 2011 and will
run until 2015, has laid the foundation for development of the ANDT prevention
work at regional and local level and extends earlier national action
plans concerning alcohol and illicit drugs. At the same time, the objectives
have been partially changed and new areas are emphasised. The county
administrative boards’ ANDT assignment consists of communicating the
ANDT policy’s objectives and directions to their respective municipalities
and contributing to and supporting the development of structured,
long-term. knowledge-based local ANDT efforts. Eight of the country’s
21 county administrative boards stated that they had a regional strategy
for ANDT prevention work in 2011, and in a further 8 counties work was
being done in 2011 to develop such a regional strategy. In order to dissemi-