LISBON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's legislature on Thursday approved a new anti-smoking law in public areas, but allowed small bars to choose to be either smoking or non-smoking places.

    The law, which was proposed by the Socialist Party, was passed with the support of the Social-Democrat, Communist and Green Parties and also enjoyed one vote from the Christian-Democrat bloc. The Socialist Party has a majority in the legislature.

    The law was originally proposed to make smoking illegal in all public places, but finally changed to allow bars under 100 square meters of floor space to choose to be either smoking or non-smoking.

    In Portugal, 18 percent of women and 31 percent of men smoke. Larger establishments are not obliged to create separate areas for smokers or non-smokers.

    The revised law prescribes fines of 50 euros (about 67 U.S. dollars) to 750 euros (about 1,005 dollars) while the original version sought an upper limit of 1,000 euros (about 1,340 dollars).

    With this law, Portugal joins Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Britain limiting smoking in public areas.