Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Jan 02, 2006 - 01:05 PM HumanInterest

Spain begins 2006 with the coming into force of the Spanish version of European Union legislation against smoking. The most immediate effect is that smoking is completely prohibited in centros de trabajo, workplaces, but within a few months the ban will be extended to bars and restaurants. Small catering establishments (less than 100 square metres) are already obliged to signal their stance - smoking or non-smoking - while larger bars and restaurants will be compelled to either provide properly closed off and independently ventilated areas for smokers or be classified as non-smoking areas. Read more.

Predictably, Spanish smokers are less than happy, though so far there have been few incidents. Bar and restaurant owners and managers are even more nervous, especially as the period allowed to adapt to the legislation is minimal - eight months - and the law was only passed in the middle of December (in Spain, it can take significantly longer than eight months to get council permission for the kind of building work required). And many question the dispensation given to Formula 1 and other motoring tobacco sponsors, who have been granted the much more generous period of grace of three years.

The fines allowed for range from a trivial 30 euros for a first-time smoker lighting up in a prohibited area to a whopping 10,000 euros for reoffending management.