Spain goes smoke-free following tough new law

Spain has brought into force an anti-smoking law that is likely to turn the EU’s fourth largest tobacco producer into one of Europe’s most stringently smokeless.

The law prohibits lighting up in enclosed public places, although hotels are allowed to reserve 30 per cent of their rooms for smokers. In a particularly tough measure, outside smoking is banned in open-air children’s playgrounds – even those inside parks – and at access points to schools and hospitals.

The law stipulates that a minor infringement should be penalised with fines from €30 to €600 while very serious breaches will attract fines from €10,000 to €600,000.

Spain’s National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking says up to 1,000 waiters die yearly from lung ailments, mainly from breathing second-hand smoke.

By next year all of the EU’s 27 member states should have banned smoking in enclosed areas.

Spain’s main restaurant and bar federation predicted the law will lead to 145,000 lost jobs and a 10 per cent decline in revenue for the sector, but the Health Ministry said similar laws put in place in recent years in nations ranging from Britain to France and Italy did not hurt business badly.

The law does allow for private smoking clubs that bar children and require registration – but they can’t let people eat, drink or buy cigarettes on the premises.

Parliament approved an anti-smoking law in 2006 that prohibited smoking in the workplace but allowed bar and restaurant owners with premises under 1,100 square feet to decide whether to allow smoking or not – and almost all permitted it.

Critics called the law a failure. Health Minister Leire Pajin said around 50,000 people died each year in Spain as a result of smoking-related illnesses, with around 1,200 of those being non-smokers who inhaled second-hand smoke.

Larger restaurants were allowed to build hermetically sealed smoking sections, but now those spaces can no longer be used for smoking – a revolution for Spaniards used to wining, dining and lighting up.