Spain introduces smoking ban
Spain has introduced a tough new anti-smoking law that prohibits lighting up in bars and restaurants as well as outside hospitals, schools and at children’s playgrounds.
A woman smokes a cigarette outside a cafe in Burgos Photo: GETTY
A woman smokes inside a bar in Madrid early on Sunday, January 2, 2011, ignoring a national smoking ban Photo: AP
By Fiona Govan, Madrid 4:49PM GMT 02 Jan 2011
Fines for breaking the ban, which took effect at midnight on January 2, range from a modest (30 euros) to (600,000 euros).
The ban has left many bar and restaurant owners fearful that it will hit their businesses hard as customers choose to stay at home rather than go without a cigarette with their drink.
The Spanish Federation of Hostelry estimates the ban could lead to the loss of up to 350,000 jobs.
”It’s hard enough already with the economic crisis keeping people from coming in and spending money like they used to,” said Carlos, the owner of a small bar near Las Ventas in Madrid.
”It’s part of Spanish culture to light up with a coffee or a beer and now is not the right time to meddle with that.”
The law updates legislation introduced five years ago when smoking was banned from the workplace and forced restaurants and bars with premises over 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft) to enclose smokers in hermitically sealed sections.
Smaller establishments had to decide whether to allow smoking or not - a fact which led to almost all opting to permit it and critics branding the law a failure.
The new legislation bans smoking from playgrounds and outside schools and hospitals. It also makes it illegal to smoke at airports, nightclubs and casinos.
”We should remember that more than 70 per cent of Spain’s population are non-smokers,” Leire Pajin, Spain’s health minister said when the law was approved by Parliament last month.
”So it is logical to think they will be more comfortable in bars when there is no tobacco smoke in them.”
