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One
Stop - New You - Right Now
'Cigarette
police' deployed in France to enforce smoking ban
John Lichfield
London Independent
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
From this week, a legion of 175,000 "cigarette
police" will patrol and sniff schools, factories, offices and
other "public spaces" across France to enforce a tough,
new law against smoking. At least this is the theory. After years
of lax enforcement of existing laws, it remains to be seen how strictly
the new rules are imposed.
Restaurants and bars, in which smoking has theoretically been banned
since 1991, have been given a further 11 months' grace until January
next year. Smoking in almost all other enclosed spaces open to the
public will be banned from Thursday. Offenders face a fine of €68
(£48). Similar restrictions have already been imposed in Ireland,
Spain and Sweden and will take effect in England in June.
There are some doubts about the legal basis of the French law, imposed
by government decree and ministerial circular rather than by act
of parliament. The government could not trust its parliamentary
supporters to anger smoking voters by passing tough restrictions
in an election year. All the same, the law represents an important
stage in the conversion of France to an officially anti-smoking
country. Until two decades ago, the French state, which held the
monopoly for producing and importing tobacco, took a relatively
relaxed view of smoking.
In recent years, tobacco taxes have been pushed up by 40 per cent,
bringing a packet of 20 to around €4, one of the highest prices
on the continent. The number of smokers fell at first but is now
rising again, especially among teenagers. About one in three French
people over 12 smokes regularly.
The French Health Minister, Xavier Bertrand, has bowed to pressure
from health professionals and the threat of law suits from passive
smokers. Smoking is held responsible for 66,000 deaths a year in
France, including 6,000 people who had never smoked.
"From 1 February, no one should have to put up with smoke puffed
out by others," M. Simon said. "This is the end of the
enforced co-habitation between smokers and non-smokers."
In theory smoking in all French bars and restaurants has been banned
since 1991, except for small, designated "smoking" areas.
In practice, the law has been turned upside down with almost entire
premises marked as " smoking areas". This has not been
challenged by the government, but from next January all this will
change.
The power to enforce the law has been given to the police and gendarmerie
but also to the transport police and an army of inspectors. They
will have the power to issue "contravention" documents,
like parking tickets, to offenders. The government hopes that the
law will, in fact, mostly be enforced by the moral pressure of non-smokers.
The detail of where smoking is banned is not in the decree but in
a ministerial circular. Lawyers have warned that this is legally
dubious and open to challenge.
Today the European Commission will call on all 27 EU countries to
follow suit by barring smoking from public places. Markos Kyprianou,
European commissioner for health, will launch a discussion paper
which will raise the possibility of pan-European legislation - though
member states will decide whether to outlaw smoking or take milder
measures to discourage it.
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