Defiance: Spain 90% continue to permit smoking

Spanish bars report plunging sales since smoking ban
February 11th, 2011
MADRID — Sales at Spanish bars, cafes and night clubs plummeted 19 percent in the first month after the introduction of a new anti-smoking law, an industry association said Friday.
The losses, reported by the Spanish Hotel and Catering Association (FEHR), were far above those it had projected prior to the imposition of the law on January 2.
“As an exclusive result of the impact of the anti-smoking ban” sales at bars and cafes fell 19.14 percent in January, in restaurants by 14.35 percent and in night clubs by 19.88 percent, it said in a statement.
The estimate, reached from a study of 1,200 establishments in the sector, was the first of its kind since the law was imposed.
Some 85 percent of the establishments reported losses and only 1.5 percent said their sales had increased, which the FEHR said belied statements from the government that the measure would boost business.
The FEHR said the decline comes at “the worst moment of the last 50 years in the hospitality industry, with a general economic crisis.”
The new law, one of the most strict in Europe, bans smoking in all enclosed public spaces, including bars, restaurants and night clubs, and makes it illegal to smoke in children’s parks or anywhere on school or hospital grounds.
The FEHR last month launched an effort to obtain half a million signatures on a petition to demand that parliament change the legislation. It has also called for demonstrations in several towns and cities.
Spain has had an anti-smoking law since January 2006 but the impact was barely noticeable.
It banned smoking in the workplace, on public transport and in shops. But it allowed owners of bars, restaurants and cafes to decide whether to ban smoking or not. Most, faced with a drop in business, naturally chose to permit their customers to light up.

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SPAIN SPLIT ON SMOKING BAN
2010-01-05
Originally set to be implemented on the 1st of January this year, the smoking ban is still being debated in the halls of power here in Spain with opposition parties failing to agree and Madrid setting its own rules.
Spain’s Health Minister Trinidad Jim?nez has stated that she wants a new tobacco ban prohibiting smoking in all public places throughout Spain to go into effect as soon as the ruling Socialist Party can gather? cross party support for its ratification by Congress.
The United Left (IU) and Catalan Nationalist (CiU) approve the across-the-board ban but the major opposition Popular Party has not officially said whether it will support it. However, Madrid regional health chief Juan Jos? G?emes, a member of the PP, said Monday he didn’t believe that the ban would work in the capital. “You never get good results from banning something,” G?emes said. “Restrictions mean curtailing freedoms and you have to be very careful about limiting individual guarantees.”
Deputy leader of the Madrid region, Ignacio Gonz?lez, also of the PP, said that his government would defend smokers’ rights “I believe that when it comes to the tobacco issue, one has to maintain some degree of respect — of course, at the same time looking at the legality of the legislation, but also ensuring that there is freedom to choose.”
It was in 2005, that the government introduced a tobacco law that has been poorly enforced. Under the regulations, public places more than 100-square-meters had to have a separate area for smokers. But a year later, a survey showed that more than half of the businesses around the country didn’t stick to the ban.
Madrid is different and the Madrid regional government issued its own decree, giving more freedom to smokers, such as allowing them to light up at certain areas at work and eliminating the 100-square-meter rule in the capital.
However, the PP regional governments seem divided over the introduction of the nationwide tobacco ban. Manuel Cervera, the health chief in Valencia, supports the Socialist government’s initiative. However, he criticizes the way the government may go about implementing it without considering alternatives for smokers.

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Spanish bars smoky as ever despite laws

May 23 2007?

Madrid – Spanish smokers are still puffing away furiously in the nation’s bars and restaurants despite a law designed to create smoke-free spaces, a study showed on Tuesday.

A minimal 10 percent of small bars and 15 percent of small restaurants opted to ban smokers from their premises under the law which came into effect last year, according to the study by Spain’s Consumers’ Organisation.

In larger premises, which are obliged to limit smokers to 30 percent of available space, the rule is being flouted in 85 percent of cases, the study showed, pointing out that smoking is even permitted in hospital cafeterias.

A smoking ban for public places has been introduced in several countries successfully in recent years. Britain is due to introduce a full ban for public places in July.

SMOKING BAN TESTED

January 14, 2006

THE new law banning smoking in almost all public places faces its biggest test as the country returns to work this week.

The law, which came into effect on Sunday, January 1, makes it

illegal to smoke in the workplace, and bars and restaurants over 100 square metres are obliged to provide non-smoking areas.

Smaller bars have to decide if they want to allow smoking or not. All must, by law, show signs saying if they will allow people to light up or not.

The number of places where people can buy tobacco will be cut by 40 per cent, with cigarettes and cigars only on sale at controlled vending machines and tobacconists.

Fines can be imposed for those who break the law, ranging from 30 to 600,000 euros.

However, a random poll by EWN reporters in the Costa Blanca indicated that little has changed since the new law came into effect.

Many of the smaller bar and restaurant owners say they are still in the dark as far the legislation is concerned, and that most of the information they have received has been via the media and not through official channels.

The owner of the El Cau bar in Polop, Ian Hartley, said that he had acted on his own initiative in the absence of any official directives and that neither the town hall nor his lawyer had given him any advice.

This was the case in 90 per cent of the establishments visited in the Marina Alta and the Marina Baixa area.

Talking privately to members of the police, most are reluctant to be the first enforcer in Spain to test the new law.

In six establishments north of Torrevieja which the team visited, it seemed as though no-one had even heard about the new law. Ashtrays were still on the tables, there was no signage about their smoking policy and children were still permitted in the smoke-filled bars.

Members of the public also seemed to be in the dark. From the 21 people we spoke to at random, only a third knew of the new restrictions and even they were not fully aware of the exact detail. The non-smokers welcomed the new law but failed to see how it was going to be policed.

The idea of a hospitality venue with a tobacco-free atmosphere would be welcomed by the vast majority of people we spoke to. The trouble is, they haven’t found one yet.

The smokers were not unduly concerned; they said they would always find a bar to smoke in. And if they couldn’t, they would just nip outside to light up.

Many hotels in Benidorm have removed machines that dispense cigarettes from within their public areas and from offices.

However, despite this, the Hoteliers Association HOSBEC has advised the government that its members cannot possibly comply with all the terms and details of the new law in time.

Opinion polls have found that although 77 per cent of Spaniards are in favour of the law, 69 per cent think it will be hard to enforce.

The Spanish Government is expected to earn 3,824 million euros in tax on cigarettes next year, which represents a 12 per cent increase over this year.

Elena Salgado, Spain”s Health Minister, said that until now, Spain has been one of Europe”s most ‘permissive’ countries in Europe in terms of the price of cigarettes and the availability of places where people can smoke.

The number of smokers in Spain is slowly going down, but is still high compared to many other European countries. Some 31 per cent of Spaniards are smokers (compared to 35 per cent five years ago) and 50,000 people die from smoking-related diseases each year. Spain was one of the last countries to ban smoking on international flights.

The government hopes to reach consensus with all the affected groups in terms of advertising, public spaces where smoking is allowed and the legal age at which teenagers are allowed to buy cigarrettes – the Health Minister has already announced that fines imposed for selling tobacco to teenagers under the age-limit will be severe.

Smoking is now forbidden in all closed places of work in the private and public sectors; in all health and education centres; sport facilities; centres offering advice and attention to citizens; centres offering help to teenagers under 18; and places where food is prepared, made or sold.

It is also forbidden to smoke in all lifts, telephone booths, indoor cashpoints, bus stations and all areas of public transport which are not open air, such as metro, indoor bus stations, railway stations and airports.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006
By: ThinkSpain
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According to a Jos? Luis Guerra, spokesman for the Spanish Hoteliers Federation (FEHR), “I don”t know if it”s 85% o 90%, but the vast majority of bars with a total surface area of less than 100 square metres have decided to let their customers continue smoking.”

Mr Guerra said that the fact that the more than 300,000 belonging to the organisation have taken this decision was “predictable,” and added that most have put up temporary signs on the front doors of their establishment advising potential customers that smoking is permitted. These will be replaced with permanent signs once each regional Health authority issues guidelines with respect to text and layout.?

Mr Guerra also insisted that owners of establishments over 100 square metres will struggle to comply with an eight month deadline to provide separate smoking areas equipped with independent ventilation systems if normal delays with respect to the granting by regional governments in granting planning permission, persist.

Smokers huff and puff at ban on lighting up in public places

January 2, 2006
By Graham Keeley
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JESUS DE LA HERMOSA drew on his cigarette as the clock approached midnight, like a man about to go before a firing squad.
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He spent New Year’s Eve smoking in peace, before Spain brought in some of the toughest legislation against the habit in Europe yesterday. In a bar in the centre of Barcelona, where the smoke haze was thick enough to make one’s eyes sting, Se?or Hermosa said:

“I do not like this ban at all. They are going to try to stop us smoking everywhere. Many of my friends are very angry about this. There are going to be demonstrations.”

As Britain continues to debate a smoking ban, Spain, where between 8 and 10 million of the 44 million population smoke, has been more decisive. From yesterday it banned smoking in the workplace, and bars and restaurants with more than 1,076sq ft (100 sq m) of public space will have to provide non-smoking areas and air-conditioning within eight months. Some “Prohibido Fumar ” (no smoking) signs have already sprung up.

It is also against the law to light up in schools, enclosed sports areas, shopping centres, theatres, cinemas and on public transport. The law strictly prohibits tobacco advertising and sales to those under the age of 16. But as the country embarked on what commentators have called one of the biggest social revolutions in years, it was clear that Spain – the first importer of tobacco to Europe 500 years ago – was not about to stop smoking overnight.

A Spanish New Year’s Eve traditionally involves gulping down a grape for every one of the 12 bells which ring on the dot of midnight. But it was easy to imagine many revellers in Barcelona had substituted cigarettes for grapes and disregarded the new law with glee.

Despite relentless publicity, many are still confused about how the new law will work. A hotline set up to help to explain the legislation was deluged with 6,000 calls from people asking questions including: can you smoke in a sex shop cubicle, and is the sale of chocolate cigarettes banned? Others wanted to know if they could light up in a morgue, or on the balcony at their office. And what about at football matches and bullfights? The answers varied from, you cannot smoke in a room designed for solitary sex or in a morgue because they are closed spaces. Chocolate cigarettes may be sold, but not to minors because they encourage them to take up smoking. You can light up at bull rings and at football matches if they are not enclosed.

Anxious not to lose clients, some bar owners said that they are going to see how their customers react. They have held polls, like the Bar Ducal in C?diz, in Andalusia, where regulars voted to carry on smoking.

In a country where smoking is the biggest killer, taking 55,000 lives a year, a recent poll by the Centre for Sociological Investigation found that 77 per cent of Spaniards supported the new law with only 15 per cent against. But the poll also found that 69 per cent of people thought it would meet with stiff opposition.

Andrea Sanchez Garcia, 22, a non-smoker, thinks it is long overdue. As she sat in a Barcelona bar rubbing her stinging eyes from the smoke, she said: “I hate it. Perhaps those who are not so addicted will only smoke when they stand outside work and give up.

“But those hardline smokers will do all they can to oppose this ban. Smoking is such a part of Spain it is hard to see it stopping suddenly.”

One of the most controversial aspects of the law is that the State will refuse to pay for the treatment of those who want to stop smoking, which costs €160 (?108) per person. Experts have said that only one in 20 smokers would be able to give up without medical help.

Dr Rodrigo C?rdoba, president of the Government’s committee of experts on reducing smoking, called last week for a rise in taxes on cigarettes to make the minimum price €2 for a packet of 20. The cheapest packet is only €1.65. Already groups of restaurateurs have complained that they will be forced to police the ban or face stiff fines of between €30 and €593,700. Jaume Baruef, the manager of Las 7 Portes restaurant in Barcelona, said: “I don’t like it when someone lights a cigar next to me. But this new law is a nonsense. They should worry about more important things.”
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From: John Gray
Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:04:33 +0000
To: online.editor@timesonline.co.uk>
Subject: Spain

Sir/Madam

With regard to the story by Graham Keeley entitled:

“Smokers huff and puff at ban on lighting up in public places”

and published on 2nd? January

This article says that 8 to 10 million of Spain”s 44 million people smoke.
To my reckoning that”s only 22.7% of the population.

Now the most common figure I have seen in the past for Spain”s smokers
is 40% and that would concur with both my own and other people”s experience
of actually going to Spain.

Moreover, I was in Austria this week and saw a CNN broadcast where even they
stated that 28% of Spain”s population smoke which would give about 12.4 million.
Sooo, who”s lying or massaging stats again?

Moreover, it would be nice if papers like The Times made a better effort to ascertain the truth too, otherwise they become rather worthless.

Yours Sinfully,
John Gray

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