ANKARA, Jan 8 (A.A) - The Tobacco Bill, which was approved by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, provides facilities to open tobacco market to competition and privatize TEKEL by restructuring it.
The committee will be comprised of seven members, one of them will be the chairman and one deputy chairman.
The Council of Ministers will appoint seven members among the candidates who will be nominated by ministries of Finance, Health, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, State Ministires responsible for the Treasury and Foreign Trade Undersecretariats, Turkish Chamber of Agriculture, and Directorate General for Tobacco, Tobacco Products, Salt and Alchol Enterprises (TEKEL). Each one of these ministries will nominate two candidates.
The committee will hold necessary arrangements that will prevent every kind of dangerous social, public or medical effects which stemmed from tobacco and alcohol consumption and will take decisions about it.
Products of the producers will be purchased and sold through written contact or public auction. The prices of tobacco will be determined according to the compromise reached among the tradesmen or their representatives.
The products, apart from the written contract, will be bought and sold in public auction centers.
Products of those who make production without getting permission, and those who make more production then stated, will be confiscated. Those people will be sentenced up to one year in prison and will be obliged to pay fine.
The law also changes the status of TEKEL from State Economic Enterprise (SEEs) to Public State Institution and it starts the privatization process of the institution.