Spain - hopes next year to expand ban on smoking in enclosed public places..

December 16, 2009 - Spain's government said Monday, December 14th it hopes to pass a law next year to ban smoking in enclosed public places such as bars and restaurants.


Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said there is a "very large consensus" for such a move. "The problem is not smoking in public places, but in enclosed public places," she told RAC1 radio.


Spain already has an anti-smoking law in force since January 2006, less restrictive that in other European countries, which bans smoking in the workplace and on public transport but only partially in bars and restaurants. (Spain - impact of 2006 law banning smoking in public places..)

Jimenez said in August that the government wants to introduce a total ban on smoking in public places, but did not indicate when such a measure might be imposed. (Spain - ready for expansion and enforcement of Anti-Smoking Act - August 30, 2009..)

Reference: Spain seeks new anti-smoking law from next year, Agence France-Presse (AFP) - Yahoo.news, 12/14/2009.

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