Junior health minister Martin van Rijn is working on draft legislation which would force shopkeepers and petrol stations to keep cigarettes out of sight of consumers, broadcaster NOS said on Friday.

The tobacco industry had promised to come up with measures but is taking too long to do so, Van Rijn said in a briefing to parliament.

The tobacconists’ association NSO has pledged to stop advertising tobacco products outside shops by 2020 but did not think a total ban on displays inside was an option. Petrol station owners too had said they would bring in a partial ban on the display of packets of cigarettes within two years.

‘Smoking is extremely bad for you and we have to do all we can to stop youngsters taking up the habit,’ Van Rijn said.