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Sun, Nov 08 2009
Full public smoking ban made official
Full public smoking ban will be instituted everywhere in Bulgaria, embodying all restaurants, pubs, clubs, cafes and bars. The ban will be enforced officially as of June 1 2010, according to the final Cabinet decision which was approved in a second reading on Thursday, May 21, as part of projected amendments to health legislation.
The Cabinet rejected the proposal of the Turkish led Movement of Rights and Freedom (MRF), Ramadan Atalai, who suggested that the ban should be enacted as early as June 1 2009.
As part of the amendments, a special inspectorate task force will be established, under the medical inspection branch, which will be entrusted with ensuring that the ban is properly upheld.
The amendments to the Health Act, passed on second reading today, will be welcomed by a large section of the population, but it will inevitably draw flak from businessmen who fear that the new legislation would spell the end of their livelihoods and contribute to unemployment in Bulgaria, which would be highly undesirable during an economic downturn.
Tourist organisations, hotels and other industry-related enterprises have repeatedly stated that a thorough ban is unhealthy, and that a steady, systematic approach should be implemented first. "A gradual process rather than a complete ban is a lot more sensitive," said Blagoi Ragin, president of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA), as quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA on April 16.
"Prohibition would squeeze the turnover of bars and restaurants by 30 per cent, and many of the smaller establishments will face collapse," Radin warned, as reported earlier by The Sofia Echo. "Bulgaria should combat smoking but should apply an integrated, comprehensive and reasonable approach instead of going to extremes," he said.
"Turnovers will slide down by 30-40 per cent; smaller restaurants would be better off closing down straight away," they said. "It would be far better if employers start paying bonuses to non-smoking workers," Ragin was quoted as saying by Standart daily.
The Cabinet rejected the proposal of the Turkish led Movement of Rights and Freedom (MRF), Ramadan Atalai, who suggested that the ban should be enacted as early as June 1 2009.
As part of the amendments, a special inspectorate task force will be established, under the medical inspection branch, which will be entrusted with ensuring that the ban is properly upheld.
The amendments to the Health Act, passed on second reading today, will be welcomed by a large section of the population, but it will inevitably draw flak from businessmen who fear that the new legislation would spell the end of their livelihoods and contribute to unemployment in Bulgaria, which would be highly undesirable during an economic downturn.
Tourist organisations, hotels and other industry-related enterprises have repeatedly stated that a thorough ban is unhealthy, and that a steady, systematic approach should be implemented first. "A gradual process rather than a complete ban is a lot more sensitive," said Blagoi Ragin, president of the Bulgarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA), as quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA on April 16.
"Prohibition would squeeze the turnover of bars and restaurants by 30 per cent, and many of the smaller establishments will face collapse," Radin warned, as reported earlier by The Sofia Echo. "Bulgaria should combat smoking but should apply an integrated, comprehensive and reasonable approach instead of going to extremes," he said.
"Turnovers will slide down by 30-40 per cent; smaller restaurants would be better off closing down straight away," they said. "It would be far better if employers start paying bonuses to non-smoking workers," Ragin was quoted as saying by Standart daily.
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Smoky business
Since November 20, the question of banning smoking in public areas and workplaces in Bulgaria depends solely on the speed of the country's bureaucratic and legislative machine. On that day the Government finally adopted a controversial decision to ban smoking in public places from June 1 2010. To make this ban effective, Parliament will now have to adopt amendments to the Public Health Act approved by the Cabinet and integrate them into Bulgaria's legislation. How long it will take Parliament to do that remains to be seen. But now, at least, the deadline for such a ban has been set.
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This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained срещу журналисти.
I look forward to the ban. It will be a pleasure to eat a meal in a Bulgarian restaurant without the idiots at the next table ruining my food and my evening by lighting up their cigarettes. The problem is not just the long term health aspect - all of us will die sometime and there are many other things that cause disease. It is the unpleasantness of breathing their smoke which makes me feel ill immediately, the ashtray taste in my mouth and smell of my hair and clothes afterwards. And Bulgaria's litter problem is big enough without adding dog-ends.
This is a crying shame, I have always loved Bulgaria, the country and the people. Have been visiting for many many years, especially since the smoking ban in the UK has decimated the pub trade. Bulgaria was always a wonderful refuge with freedom of choice. If they ban smoking there then with heavy heart I will not be visiting again after 2010. :-(
Finally - Bulgaria becoming friendlier to healthy life!
Shame: monumental, ineradicable, burning shame upon the government of Bulgaria. Lkke a servile, kicked puppy they have given in and kowtowed to the world wide anti-smoking phobia. Second hand smoke has never been proven to have any deleteious efect on anyone. For every study which claims to show ill effects of "passive smoke," there is at least one or more which show the exact opposite.
The entire movement is nothing more than a blatant use of power to eradicate individual freedoms.
Tobacco today; tomorrow what? coffee? CocaCola? toothpaste?
Bah! I thought if there were any courage left on Earth, it would be found in Bulgaria.
SHAME!
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"It would be far better if employers start paying bonuses to non-smoking workers," Ragin was quoted..
1) Why are there ANY smoking workers?
2) It is the smoking customers that we don't want. Perhaps they should start giving discounts to non-smoking customers.
Although I have no doubt that the "passive smoke" aspect is not as bad as other aspects of life nowadays, it has nothing to do with the disruption caused to the enjoyment of a meal by ignorami who insist on poluting the air with their obnoxious fumes. Smoking in a restaurant (anywhere for that matter) is anti-social. If they were doing any other anti-social act to upset restaurant customers, I am sure that the management would at least tell them to stop and, if they didn't, have them ejected.
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Smoking bans definately damage business , I for one like millions of others do not go to Pubs etc.,anymore here in the U.K which has had 3000 pubs shut down since the Smoking ban came in in 2007 and restauranta and Bingo halls also cafes have been lost as well !
The Ban has been brought in on the back of Junk science as Passive smoke has not been proved to serously harm anyone.
The myth of the 30% drop in restaurant revenues was invented directly by cigarette company lobbyists during the Beverly Hills, California smokefree campaign years ago. To this day, the only studies to show negative impact on hospitality revenue are those studies funded directly or indirectly by cigarette companies. Restaurant associations in the U.S. have acknowledged that Big Tobacco's economic loss predictions never came true. Smokers still go to restaurants and bars. They just step outside to light up and come back in when they are done. It's about not smoking in ways that harm other people. Everyone deserves the right to breathe smokefree air in the jobsite.