Spanish Govt. Agrees to Strict Anti-smoking Measures [04/25-2]

Excerpts from: Spanish government clamps down on smoking

AFP [04/22/05]


The Spanish government agreed a drastic anti-smoking strategy to cut the number of tobacco-related deaths from its present level of more than 50,000 a year.

Advertising of cigarettes will be banned, smoking prohibited in public and private workplaces, the minimum legal age for buying cigarettes raised to 18 and health warnings on packets made starker.

The draft legislation adopted by the cabinet aims to "tighten up one of the most permissive sets of laws in the European Union" in this area, according to a government statement.

Smoking causes "more than 50,000 deaths a year in Spain and accounts for 16 percent of deaths among the over-35s, that is more than AIDS, alcohol, illegal drugs and road accidents combined."

At work smoking will only be permitted in special ventilated "smoking zones." Illegal publicity for cigarettes will be punishable by a fine of up to 600,000 euros (783,000 dollars).

Cigarette vending machines, widely found in bars and restaurants, will carry notices declaring "Smoking kills" and "Sales to under-18s banned."

At present cigarette packets sold in Spain say only that "Smoking can kill."

Once voted by the parliament, where there is a Socialist majority, the law will take effect on January 1 next year.

Smoking will be banned outright in hospitals, enclosed sports centres, commercial centres, large shops, cultural centres, museums, libraries, and lifts, among other places.

It will be tolerated in special zones in businesses, penal establishments, airports, stations and ports.

Fines will reflect the incomes of offenders, reaching a maximum of 30 euros (39 dollars) for minor offences and first offenders.

But they could rise to 600 euros (783 dollars) in certain cases -- for example when bars fail to tell customers that they are smoking zones.

If an establishment is too small for the creation of a non-smoking area to be feasible, they will to have to choose to be entirely smoking or non-smoking. But the heaviest fines, up to 600,000 euros, will be imposed on tobacco companies or media that defy the ban on advertising, either directly or indirectly through sponsorship.

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