GRTU keeps up pressure against smoking ban

A set of recommendations on the forthcoming smoking ban in public places will today be presented to Health Minister Louis Deguara by the GRTU, Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises.

The legal notice banning smoking, which will come into force on April 5, has received the scorn of the GRTU, which is adamant it should be amended because of the negative impact it will have on businesses.

"If the minister is stubborn, we will be so too," GRTU director general Vince Farrugia said, adding that if no changes were introduced the association would issue directives to members later this month.

The GRTU's campaign on the issue is styled Voluntary Choices.

Addressing a press briefing, Mr Farrugia said no blanket regulations should be implemented but owners should have the option to decide whether their premises should be smoking or non-smoking areas or else have designated areas.

"It is up to the consumer to choose the premises, which would be clearly marked. The legal notice gives no choice to consumers," he said.

Mr Farrugia explained that a number of outlets have invested in sophisticated air purifying equipment. He said the GRTU had asked the Malta Standards Authority to establish acceptable clean-air standards, to which non-smoking areas must conform.

He stressed that if there were both smoking and non-smoking places, people would be free to choose where to go and the market would develop according to what the people wanted. "Once the customer has chosen, the investor will follow."

Another issue worrying the GRTU is that the legal notice says "employees shall not be required to enter such rooms (smoking areas) even if in the course of their duties". The association is concerned that this would give employees a chance of not fulfilling their duties, with the employer unable to take action.

GRTU hospitality and leisure representative Philip Fenech said the change of culture brought about by this legal notice would have repercussions on business.

"If a person goes outside to smoke, there will be a break of continuity. We try to keep people in a bar by creating an atmosphere but when they go out to smoke this will be lost and the customer might move on to another place," he said.

He also voiced his concern that people who pay through a tab might just walk away without paying after going to smoke a cigarette.

Mr Fenech is also concerned that owners of enterprises can be fined or even sent to prison if a person is caught smoking on the premises. However, he said, if the owner phoned the police to report somebody smoking, the person would have already smoked the cigarette by the time the police turned up. The regulations say that smokers are to be held personally liable and it is not the obligation of owners to report clients or employees.

A number of studies have been conducted in other countries where smoking bans were put in force. A study conducted in El Paso, Texas, published last Friday on the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, said there were no statistically significant changes in restaurant and bar revenues after a smoking ban was put into force.

The report said the El Paso smoking ban is the strongest smoke-free indoor air ordinance in Texas and includes stipulations for enforcement of the ban by fire fighting and law enforcement agencies, with fines of up to $500 (about Lm175) for ordinance violations.

The study compared the tax reports of the year after the ban was put into force with the 12 years before the ban. The report said no decline in total restaurant or bar revenues occurred in El Paso and added that these findings are consistent with the result of studies in other municipalities that determined smoke-free indoor ordinances.

"Despite claims that these laws especially might reduce alcoholic beverage revenues, the mixed-beverage revenue analyses indicate that sales of alcoholic beverages were not affected by the El Paso smoking ban," the report said.

Asked for comments about this, Mr Fenech said a lot of studies have been conducted about the issue and some of them stated the opposite.

"The smoking ban will definitely distort the business pattern," he said.