Canary Islands - bar owners calling for a smoking ban protest March 9th.

Canary Islands Coat-of-Arms

January 30, 2011 - The Canary Islands (Canaries; are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa. Tenerife is the largest and most populous of the seven Canary Islands.

Spain - anti-smoking law goes into effect Sunday, January 2, 2010.. This same smoking ban law included the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands.

A reply to a person who asked whether this law banning smoking in public areas applied to Mallorca the answer is certainly it does. The Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands are an integral part of Spain, and are subject to the same laws. Only certain fiscal rules vary.

The smoking ban in Spain dos not affect the Canary Islands in the same way because most life is outside (fuera) the bars here all year round. Most bars in the Canary Islands are outside terrace areas, outside the building and so outside the new Law.
Smoking Law applies to inside bars and does not affect bars like Cafe Florin which have outside terraces in the same way.(Cafe Florin online.)

Canary Island bar owners have chosen March 9th in which to stage their protest against the smoking ban by closing down for the day. The Federación Canaria del Ocio (Fecao: Canary Leisure Industry Federation) are hoping that other business will join in support. This day is of particular significance as it falls on the Carnival day of the Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) which will affect thousands of Carnival spectators. Fecao's president Antonio Santana said that on February 2, he would be meeting with other members of the Federation to try to gather information as to what other autonomous regions had lost in the first month of this year since the ban took effect.
In the meantime the Canaries are determined to go it alone, hitting hardest at one of the most important dates in Tenerife's calendar of events - bang in the middle of its' famous Tenerife's calendar of events.

Reference: Back to work test for smoking ban, islandconnections.eu, 2/1/2006; Bars in the Canary Islands to protest about the blanket smoking ban, Tenerife News, 1/28/2011.