Smoking in public regulations

As a retired English lawyer, I hasten to question (with the greatest respect for the gentleman concerned) whether or nor the legal draftsman has clearly thought through the provisions of the smoking regulations, which come into force on April 5.

Regulation 2 provides that "designated smoking area" means an area other than an enclosed room, that is designated for smoking.

Regulation 3 (1) prohibits the public from smoking in enclosed premises which form part of certain public or private establishments, one of which would include a restaurant.

Regulation 3 (2) states that provision should be made for areas to be clearly defined as being reserved for smokers in any of the establishments referred to in regulation 3 (1).

Most restaurants in Gozo are not very big... if one takes (by way of example) a restaurant with 12 tables (six either side)... the owner (together with the appropriate authorised officer [if required]) might decide to designate the six tables on the left of the restaurant as smoking tables and the ones on the right as non-smoking, or indeed to designate the six tables at the rear of the restaurant as smoking tables and the front six tables as non- smoking.

In either case, the inevitable would happen... the smoke from the designated smoking area would drift... (just like it used to on airplanes before most of them became non-smoking flights)... into the non-smoking area and the whole object of the new legislation would be defeated.

Maybe the learned draftsman or relevant government department could inform us (the public) what precisely they had in mind when these statutory provisions were drafted?