Lenient smoking policies

Among EU countries, the Czech Republic currently has one of the more lenient smoking policies. Restaurants and bars are allowed to govern themselves and only display a sign that indicates whether they allow or don’t allow smoking, or have separate smoking sections.

Smoking in public places

Modern Czech Republic is still falling behind on having a strong policy against smoking in public spaces. Currently, the only law in force is the one that restricts smoking in some public places such as institutions, hospitals, bus stops and other public service stops, but not in restaurants, bars and clubs. Since July 2010, the only measurement taken was the obligation to keep signs or stickers that signified whether and where the non-smoking zones in restaurants are, but still no regulation is forbidding smoking indoors. Efforts since then to follow the other European nations with explicit legislations on banning smoking have come to nothing. This time, however, the proposed legislation seems to have increased support.

In addition to a complete ban on smoking in restaurants and at concerts, the proposed legislation would also ban the sale of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks in vending machines and introduce further measures to reduce their consumption.

Nowadays, there are 17 countries in the EU that enforce comprehensive smoke-free laws. They include the U.K., Greece, Ireland, Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain, according to EU’s official site. These countries have the most stringent smoke-free laws enforcing complete ban on indoor and public smoking.