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Spain Slowly Adapts to Anti-Tobacco Law

Published: 2011-01-07    Views:124 reads

The new Spanish anti-tobacco law, which came into effect on January 2, is facing some problems in being accepted by the entire population.

The new law prohibits smoking in all closed public spaces, such as bars and restaurants, as well as areas such as children's playgrounds and the areas directly outside hospitals and schools.

There is no doubt the majority of bar owners are enforcing the law and the majority of smokers are accepting it. However, given the number of complaints that have been made for the non-observance of the law, it is also clear that for some at least, old habits die hard.

By 17:00 hours on Tuesday, just two and a half days after the law came into effect, over 1,014 official complaints had been made to the Federation of Consumers (FACUA) for the non-observance of the law by establishments and clients.

FACUA has confirmed that it will be submitting 879 of these complaints to the respective health authorities.

The majority of the complaints have come from the Autonomous Community of Andalusia with 246. Meanwyhile, 149 have been made in Madrid and 128 in Catalonia.

Failure to comply with the law is considered a minor infraction and carries a fine of around 30 euros (40 U.S. dollars) for a smoker, but if someone offends three times, the offense is then considered serious and the subsequent fine rises to between 601 euros (800 U.S. dollars) and 100,000 euros (130,000 U.S. dollars).

Tobacco kills around 50,000 Spaniards every year, 3,000 of whom are non-smokers affected by the passive inhalation of smoke.

Source from: People's Daily Online
http://act.tobaccochina.com/englishnew/content1.aspx?id=45365