The legal framework for countering the affordability of traditional cigarettes in Poland - a review of selected issues

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the conditions of citizens’ security in connection with the elimination of the economic affordability of traditional cigarettes as they are harmful products. The most important aim of this text is to show the relationship between the content of the term “elimination of traditional cigarettes” and the concept of “citizens’ security,” as laid down in Article 5 of the Polish Constitution. In the field of program norms, special emphasis should be placed on the category of the “means to achieve” systemic aims. It can therefore be assumed that excise duty on certain tobacco products will be considered in this context as such means. It should be emphasized that objective circumstances, such as the harmfulness of traditional cigarettes in the context of the state’s care for the security of citizens, should affect the final shape of the law in this matter.