Czech Republic amended ban on smoking in public places

Last Friday, the Czech government voted to approve an amendment to the legislation concerning smoking in public areas. The public health advocates said that the ban was rather cleared up than toughened as it has been perceived as a balance agreement between anti-smoking organizations and groups advocating for smokers’ rights to puff in eating venues. However, according to our reporters, a comprehensive smoking ban, similar to that in the United Kingdom and several other European countries is still far away.

Coming to Prague or other Czech city for the first time, tourists become surprised to know that despite all regulations, people still smoke anywhere they want, from streets and patios to bars and taverns. The current laws solely demand from owners of venues where meals and drinks have been served to designate their premises into smoking and smoke-free sections, however, when it comes to reality, and secondhand smoke spreads to non-smoking area, it becomes that the border line between two sections is rather imaginary.

The latest amendment tries to clarify this misunderstanding. In conformity with the amendment – only in case it would be legally signed by the president – owners of bars, restaurants and other eateries will decide on their own whether to ban smoking inside their establishments completely or become only-for-smokers venues, and required to notify their customers by putting a special sign on the entrance door.

Boris Stastny, head of anti-smoking coalition in the Czech Parliament and author of the amendment said during a tobacco news conference that the issue with smoking legislation had been very controversial since nobody knew where smoking has been permitted and where it was not. He added that restaurant owners simply put a sign on the table and that was enough to call it a smoking area. However, if the newest amendment became valid it would help to demand placing special signs on the entrance of the venues and make it easier for the potential customers to understand whether the venue is smoking or not.

Stastny added that his final and principal objective is to implement a comprehensive smoking ban in Czech Republic, prohibiting smoking in each and every enclosed public area.

The latest amendment was backed even by supporters of smokers’ rights, including senator Jaroslav Kubera, a chain smoker, who has been advocating for the rights of smokers in the government.  

He named the amendment wise and just, saying that its major aim is to protect non-smokers from passive smoking and not to violate smokers’ fundamental rights. He said that the major issue with various smoking bans across the world is the infringement of basic human rights, since if authorities seek to reduce the smoking rates they should better educated people than banning a legal activity. He criticized the smoking bans in neighbor countries by stating that the law should not hurt one group of people in favor of the other, but simply to protect the second group.  

The lawmaker also said that Czech Republic would never implement a smoking ban similar to that in UK or France, because they first of all think about each constituent and his freedom to do what he want to do, unless it is illegal.