anti-smoking law in Spain

SMOKING BAN IN SPAIN - DEDICATED 'OUTSIDE' AREA

Andrew Linn (Culture Spain’s Spanish food and wine expert) has been keeping an eye on the controversial (for many) smoking ban in Spain.  Clearly, this law has upset a significant minority of the Spanish population as protests against it continue.  In my area of Valencia I have seen little of this – but Andrew ( a very occasional smoker only) reports that:

The protests about the smoking ban in Spain are increasing rather than decreasing. Demonstrations have taken place in many Spanish cities and more were programmed for last weekend. There were also plans for bars to close for several hours as a further protest. In the Basque country plans are afoot to remove cigarette vending machines from bars, so as to eliminate a large part of the income the State receives from taxes on tobacco (bar owners by comparison get little profit from these machines: to make 150 euros they have to sell 1,000 packs.)

Meanwhile, the conference centre at Torremolinos, one of the largest in the south of Spain, has announced it will construct a part-outdoor area where events can be held and where smoking will be legal. Interestingly, theTorremelinos centre is controlled by the municipality.

The catering sector has published the results of the smoking ban in Spain so far – with estimates that bars have lost as much as 40% of their pre-ban business. In the likely event that every bar has to dismiss one employee, the resulting increase in unemployment will, needless to say, be massive.

So far there are no reports of fines having been levied for breaking the anti-smoking law in Spain, although the authorities have made many threats and there are possibly fines pending court procedures.

The bottom line for those opposed to the smoking ban in Spain is: ‘if tobacco is bad, ban it altogether. If it is not all bad, let people smoke in defined places or areas in bars and restaurants. One of the conditions of the anti-smoking law in Spain is that smoking is not permitted in private clubs which flies in the face of democratic legislation that permits such clubs to set their own rules and regulations.

Indeed, Spanish legal specialists maintain that the central government cannot ‘invade’ the officially permitted areas of the autonomous regions by trying to impose a general law that affects all the country.  Evidently, this is not within central government’s competence when it comes to such matters as prohibiting smoking in private businesses such as clubs that do not admit non-members, etc.  So, it appears that legal challenges to the law are already being lined up.

Certainly, every day there are reports in the newspapers of violence taking place in bars and restaurants because of the ban.  In Velez-Malaga two policemen who tried to arrest three smokers in a bar (they had previously asked them to step outside to smoke) were injured in a fight when they tried to arrest one of the offenders who had refused to give his personal details.  In Granada a fight erupted between some youths in a city-centre bar when they intervened to defend the lady bar owner who was being threatened by a smoker who had refused to put out his cigarette.

Needless to say, there are probably hundreds of such incidents relating to the smoking ban in Spain each day but it is almost certain that only a small proportion of them get into the press.

RELEVANT INFO: Spanish food and wine and Andrew Linn