SmokeFree

A German government study has found that restaurants in the country, Europe's biggest tobacco market, aren't setting aside enough non-smoking areas, making it necessary to introduce legislation.

In 2005, Germany's major Hotel and Catering Association voluntarily agreed to expand the number of non-smoking areas in the country's 240,000 restaurants and cafes to avoid the need for legislation. But just one in three of nearly 2,000 restuarants surveyed offered non-smoking seating, while only 11 per cent provide non-smoking areas and signposts them as agreed under the voluntary code. Under the agreement, 60 per cent of all catering establishments must be non-smoking by 1 March this year.

Germany's federal governement and the country's 16 states plan to introduce legislation to stop smoking in public places and restuarants. on 28 February, the Berlin government will approve a bill to ban smoking in federal buildings such as ministries, train stations and on public transport. The state premiers will meet on March 22 to discuss a proposal for state legislation to end smoking in restaurants, schools, museums, discoteques and other places.

The majority of Germans favour a smoking ban in restaurants, according to a poll published this week. Sixty-one per cent of 1,000 people surveyed said they would like to see smoking forbidden in restaurants, while 35 per cent were against the ban.

Orginial article featured by Bloomberg.