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| Two men smoke cigarettes outside a bar in Burgos, Spain, on January 2, 2011 following the introduction of a new law banning smoking in all bars, restaurants and public places. Smoking in enclosed public areas in Spain is now illegal after an anti-smoking law became effective on Sunday. (Xinhua/AFP) |
MADRID, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Smoking in enclosed public areas in Spain is now illegal after an anti-smoking law became effective on Sunday.
Issued by the government on Dec. 21, 2010, the law bans smoking in such enclosed public places as airports, public transportation facilities, dance halls, bars, restaurants and entertainment places.
Smoking is also banned in open-air children's playgrounds, parks and access points to schools and hospitals.
Media are now forbidden from carrying any kinds of tobacco-related advertisements.
But the law allows hotel owners to reserve 30 percent of their rooms for smokers, which must be separated from no-smoking quarters.
The law is not applicable in open-air restaurants, metal hospitals, rehabilitation centers for disabled people, and aged people's homes and activity centers.
According to Spain's National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking, it took years' efforts to officially carry out the anti-smoking law which was approved by parliament in 2006.
Official statistics showed that up to 1,000 waiters in the country die yearly from lung ailments, mainly from breathing secondhand smoke.
