The smoking ban in Malta was facing serious enforcement problems, an EU-wide survey indicated yesterday, confirming the widespread perception that exists locally.

More than a third of Maltese respondents admitted that when they last visited a bar, people there were smoking. The survey was conducted last October.

Although it seems that restaurants are more careful, 16 per cent said people were allowed to smoke even in such places.

The smoking ban was introduced in 2004 amid controversy and protests, especially from the entertainment business, who feared the ban would cost them serious money.

The survey revealed that the cost of cigarettes had little effect on smokers and many still continued to light up despite almost yearly increases in price.

Only 21 per cent said they had quit smoking because of an increase in cigarette prices in the past year and 75 per cent said price was not really an issue.

Health concerns are much more of a deterrent as 82 per cent of those who quit smoking in the past year did so for health reasons.

So how many people actually smoke in Malta?

According to the survey, just under a fourth of the Maltese population (24 per cent) does so regularly and another 15 per cent used to smoke but have quit. On the other hand, 59 per cent said they had never touched nicotine.

Among the smokers, 16 per cent smoke more than a packet of cigarettes a day while a relative majority, 43 per cent, put between 11 and 20 cigarettes a day between their lips.

Nearly seven in 10 said they didn't allow smoking in their homes and almost half didn't allow it in their car. A quarter of respondents said they still experienced passive smoking at their place of work for at least an hour a day.

Slightly more people smoke in the EU than in Malta: The survey shows that nearly one in three Europeans still lights up, despite the fact that tobacco kills half of its users. It is estimated that 650,000 die every year in the EU due to tobacco-related illnesses.

Launching this year's anti-tobacco campaign in Brussels on the occasion of the 2010 No Tobacco Day, to be marked on Monday, Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said the Commission would be reviewing its existing legislation on tobacco products in order to continue to cut consumption.