¿Por qué nosotros no? Acción Ciudadana por la Salud y el cambio de la Ley Española de Tabaco

Small cafes must be smoke free, says appeal court

30/03/2013 DUTCH NEWS

Tuesday 26 March 2013

The appeal court in The Hague ruled on Tuesday that smoking must be banned in all cafes, with no exception for small cafes run by the owner.

The smoking ban was introduced in 2008 and included all cafes, but in 2011 an exception was introduced for cafes with under 70 square metres of space and no personnel.

Clean Air Nederland has been campaigning against the exception ever since and is delighted with the ruling.

However, CAN chairman Patrick Zonderop told news site nu.nl he now wants to see proper enforcement of the ban. He also said cafes which flout the law should be closed temporarily, rather than being fined.

Inspectors

Last month a narrow majority of MPs voted in favour of taking the ban on smoking across the entire hospitality industry again. Junior health minister Martin van Rijn is currently looking into the implications of the vote.

He is also looking at how to monitor cafes to ensure they comply. Figures from the food safety body last week showed just 5% of bars and cafes are visited by anti-smoking ...

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... inspectors.

Around half of bars are thought to flout the ban.

- See more at: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2013/03/small_cafes_must_be_smoke_free.php#sthash.JVPzcy33.dpuf


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Hands off Spain's smoke-free law!

11/03/2013 The Framework Convention Allia

A grassroots movement in Spain has launched a global campaign to defend the country's smoke-free law.

Called Don't Touch the Law, the campaign is in reaction to the proposal from the builders of the planned EuroVegas casino that smoking be allowed in casinos. The campaign was launched by ¡Porque nosotros sí!, a collection of more than 260 organisations.

The casino, to be built in Spain's capital Madrid by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson, will be part of a massive gambling and conference centre. The first stage is scheduled to open in 2017.

"The Spanish Government has stated that it will not change the smoke-free law. But as long as the threat of EuroVegas exists, the risk of the rollback of Spain's law continues," says Joseba Zabala Galán, the campaign's coordinator.

Madrid's Regional President Ignacio Gonzalez recently said, "the smoking issue is also a matter for central government. It is working on it and will come up with a solution in the next few months, with a chance for restricted smoking," reported The Guardian newspaper.

Nearly ...

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... two years old, the current Spanish law replaced one that allowed smoking at the discretion of the owners of hospitality premises, and was supported by the tobacco industry. The new law allows no exceptions to smoke-free spaces.

"The continuity of the new Spanish smoke-free model is not only vital to Spain but also to the entire global tobacco control movement, since the use of this model has already been adopted by other countries," adds Joseba.

Promoters of EuroVegas say it will create tens of thousands of jobs over 18 years. But Joseba says economic concerns should not trump health concerns.

"Spain is experiencing a financial crisis but public health must prevail over shady business. People in Spain know that creating tax havens is corruption. Creating legal havens for smoking is also corruption," Joseba said.


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