Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - smoke free countries

Bans in public places or bars/restaurants

* Australia, federal law bans smoking in all Commonwealth government buildings, on most public transport, and in airports and international and domestic flights. Further bans are in place but are governed by individual states. Currently all Australian states and territories have banned smoking in enclosed public places, particularly workplaces and restaurants.
o New South Wales, 2005 In addition to a public place ban, half the area of pubs, bars, and clubs have to be smoke-free. A total ban is expected to be introduced in the future.
* Canada, indoor smoking is banned in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. Smoking is allowed only in separate, ventilated rooms in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Ontario and Quebec have passed smoking bans in their legislatures, but these will not take effect until 2006. Many cities have by-laws restricting smoking, even if there is no provincial ban in effect (see below.)
o Ontario
+ Belleville, May 1, 2003 banned in public places. Limited designated smoking areas in restaurants, bowling alleys, pool halls, bingo halls until 1 May 2006, when all public places in Ontario will be smoke free.[1][2]
+ Guelph, July 1995 banned in public areas with a gradual phase-in for restaurants until 2000. [3]
+ Region of Waterloo, 1 January 2000 smoking ban in all public places. Fine $250. [4]
* India, 1 May 2004 banned in public places (200 rupee fine for violations); no-smoking areas required in bars, restaurants and hotels.
* Italy, 10 January 2005 banned in public places.
* New Zealand, 10 December 2004 banned in all enclosed workplaces, including bars, clubs, and casinos. The law enacting this was the Smokefree Environments Amendment Act of 3 December 2003.
* Norway, 1 June 2004 banned in bars, clubs, and restaurants.
* Republic of Ireland, 29 March 2004 the first country in the Northern Hemisphere to ban smoking in all enclosed workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
* South Africa, 1 October 2000 the first country in the world to ban smoking in all public areas, including bars and restaurants unless the proprietor built a ventilated smoking room, separated by walls and doors from the rest of the establishment, not exceeding 25% of the establishment's area.(Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act of 1999)
* Sweden, 1 June 2005 banned in bars and restaurants. Smoking on public transports and in most enclosed public spaces has been prohibited since 1983.
* Thailand, 8 November 2002 banned in all air-conditioned buildings, hospitals, government, phone booths, elevators, temples, etc. Sept 2005 banned all displays of tobacco, including in shop displays and all advertising.
* United Kingdom No national controls, see below:
o Northern Ireland, April 2007 a ban in all enclosed public places.
o Scotland, 26 March 2006 a ban in enclosed public places.
* United States, no federal legislation. See below for state and local laws:
o California, 1998 banned in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants, and excepting tobacconists.
o Colorado
+ Boulder, 1995 banned indoors except for isolated rooms in bars and restaurants.
o Connecticut, 1 April 2004 banned in bars, restaurants, and workplaces with more than five employees.
o Delaware, November 2002 banned in all public buildings, including workplaces, bars, restaurants, and casinos.
o Florida, 1 July 2003 banned in all workplaces, except private homes, tobacco shops, designated rooms at motels and hotels, and stand alone bars with no more than 10% of revenue from food sales.
o Idaho, July 2004 banned in restaurants, retail stores, sports venues, child care centers, schools, and hospitals.
o Indiana
+ Bloomington, January 1, 2005 banned in public buildings including outdoor dining areas. Smoking is allowed only outside at a "reasonable distance" from doors, vents, and windows - measured by whether smoke can drift inside.
o Kentucky
+ Georgetown, October 1, 2005 banned in most public buildings. Smoking is still allowed in some hotel rooms.
+ Lexington, April 27, 2004 banned in public buildings.
+ Louisville, November 15, 2005 banned in all public buildings, except bars and taverns, restaurants with profits from bar sales at least 25%, Churchill Downs, and with permission from the city.
o Maine, January 2004 banned in bars. Smoking has been banned in restaurants since 2000.
o Maryland
+ Montgomery County, July 1, 2003 - banned in all eating and drinking establishments. [5]
+ Talbot County, April 2004 banned in all bars and restaurants.
+ Prince George's County, Jan 1, 2006 banned in all bars and restaurants.
o Massachusetts, July 2004 banned in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, except private clubs and cigar bars.
+ Freetown, Massachusetts, January 1, 2004 banned in all businesses.
o Minnesota
+ Hennepin County (which includes Minneapolis), March 31, 2005 banned in public areas.
+ Ramsey County (, which includes St. Paul), March 31, 2005 banned in public buildings with less than 50% liquor sales.
o Montana, 1 October 2005 banned in public buildings.
o Nebraska
+ Lincoln, January 1, 2005 banned in public buildings, except outdoor dining areas and designated hotel rooms.
o New York, July 2003 banned in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, pool halls, and company cars, except Indian casinos and "cigar bars".
+ New York, New York, March, 2003 - banned smoking in all restaurants, food-service establishments, and bars.
o Ohio
+ Columbus, 26 September 2005 bans all smoking in enclosed public places or places of employment. Exceptions tobacco shops, private clubs, and 20 percent of hotel rooms. Outdoor smoking areas must be at least 20 feet from an enclosed area.
+ Summit County, February 2006 smoking ban being adopted with a number of exemptions -- smoke shops, 20 percent of hotel rooms, bowling alleys, private clubs and racetracks. Akron's less-restrictive Clean Indoor Air Ordinance, on the books since 1990, prevails in the city. It allows smoking in bars, bowling alleys, bingo halls, restaurants, banquet halls, hotels and tobacco stores. Because the two laws conflict the law could wind up being challenged in court.
o Oregon
+ Corvallis, August 1997 banned in businesses and public buildings, within 3 meters of entrances, including bars and restaurants.
+ Eugene, July 2001 banned in all public areas, including bars, restaurants, and venues. [6]
+ Multnomah County, July 1, 2000 banned in workplaces, except bars, truck stops, and private residences. [7]
o Rhode Island, 1 March 2005 banned in almost all indoor workplaces, except some gambling facilities.
o Texas
+ Austin, September 1, 2005 ban extended to all bars and clubs. Smoking is still allowed in bingo halls, fraternities, hotel rooms, and nursing homes.
o Washington, 8 December 2005 banned in all workplaces, including bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, and non-tribal casinos. Also bans smoking while standing within 25 feet of a door or window that can open. Currently it is the strictest smoking ban by state in the country.
o Wisconsin
+ Madison, July 1, 2005 banned in all workplaces, including bars, cigar bars, and restaurants. [8]
o Wyoming
+ Laramie, April 2005 Smoking outlawed in all public places, including restaurants, bars and private clubs.
* Vietnam, 07 January 2005 banned in public places including airports, public transportation, bus and train stations, ports, and government offices and waiting rooms.

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Outdoor smoking bans
This sign at a public park in Turlock, California prohibits smoking at or around an outdoor children's playground area. State law prohibits smoking within 25 feet (8 m) of such areas.
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This sign at a public park in Turlock, California prohibits smoking at or around an outdoor children's playground area. State law prohibits smoking within 25 feet (8 m) of such areas.

In some places with long-established strict indoor smoking bans, many areas have begun to experiment with outdoor smoking bans in specific contexts, especially in public or government-owned spaces. Not surprisingly, the US state of California, already famous for its strict anti-smoking history, has been one of the most concentrated areas of innovative outdoor smoking policies in recent times, although it is not the only area to have outdoor-smoking bans. The advent of outdoor smoking bans has been seen as one of the final frontiers in the anti-smoking movement.

An additional motivation for the ban on outdoor smoking is litter reduction. Beach cleanup efforts often find the majority of beach trash to be discarded cigarettes and butts. Besides being unsightly and requiring cleanup resources, these discarded tobacco products can leak unwanted chemicals into the environment.

* In the state of California, outdoor smoking is banned within 20 feet (6 m) of all public building entrances, exits, "operable windows," and air intakes. This applies to all public and state-owned buildings, including all buildings part of such large entities as the 10-campus University of California system, the 23-campus California State University system, and the 109-campus California Community Colleges system. Many California public universities take tougher stances than the statewide required minimum, either by extending no-smoking zones past 20 feet (6 m) or severely restricting outdoor smoking to specific areas, such as California State University, Fresno and San Francisco, which prohibits all indoor and outdoor smoking on its campus except for in several designated outdoor zones.
* Smoking is prohibited within 25 feet (8 m) of playgrounds, sandboxes, or "tot-lots" throughout the state of California.
* Solana Beach, California, a small coastal town in North San Diego County, California enacted a total ban (with no designated smoking areas) on smoking on its beaches in 2003, the first community to have done so in the Continental United States. Many other coastal communities in California have since enacted similar bans, although policies regarding the scope and enforcement of such laws vary. Other coastal California cities and communities with beach-smoking bans include Capitola, Carpinteria, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, San Clemente, Santa Cruz, and Santa Monica.
* Some beaches in Sydney, Australia have smoking bans in place.
* In the Australian state of Queensland, smoking is prohibited within four metres of entrances to public buildings, near playgrounds, outdoor areas where food is served, and at all major sports stadiums.
* In 2004 San Francisco, California approved one of the strictest outdoor-smoking bans in the world to-date, prohibiting smoking in all city-owned parks and plazas as well as public sports facilities. Other smaller California cities have outdoor bans in city-owned places but none is as far-reaching as the new San Francisco policy, which came into effect June 1, 2005.
* Cities such as Davis, California and Berkeley, California ban all outdoor smoking at outdoor restaurants and food venues.
* Edmonton, Alberta banned all outdoor patio smoking at bars, restaurants and casinos on July 1, 2005.
* Selected wards in Tokyo, Japan prohibit smoking on the streets. This ban is enforced and violators are fined. In response, smoking cafes have opened to provide a space for smokers.
* Ocean City, NJ prohibits smoking except for very restricted areas on its 2.5 mile boardwalk due to a fire caused by a discarded cigarette butt.
* As of 8 December, 2005 Washington outlaws standing and smoking within 25 feet of a business' door, air intake, or window that can open. Smoking while walking on the sidewalk or other public access is allowable according to the law, even past one of these 25 foot zones. Businesses can also get exemptions if they can show smoke does not enter into the building from a lesser distance.

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Other bans

* South Africa which passed the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act in 1999
* Turkmenistan, under decree from President for life Saparmurat Niyazov, has banned the chewing of tobacco.
* On December 17, 2004, in the Kingdom of Bhutan, a national ban on the sale of tobacco products went into effect. Smoking in all public places in Bhutan became illegal on February 22, 2005.
* California has designated certain areas, such as all public schools and even prisons, as "tobacco-free" zones, where the possession of tobacco in any form (whether by students, parents, teachers, or others) is strictly prohibited indoors and outdoors. The sale and advertisement of tobacco is banned within 1000 feet (300 m) of educational facilities.
* Similarly, Illinois law prohibits anyone from smoking on public school property (indoors and outdoors).

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Other restrictions

* In other countries, such as France, the Netherlands and Russia, bans enacted earlier allow for smoking sections in restaurants, as well as possible special rooms for use by smokers in other workplaces (though many employers prefer not to incur the costs of building and maintaining such rooms, leaving smoking employees to go smoke outside).
* Many California communities have established smoke-free registries for private residential buildings, especially apartments. The policies may range from complexes where smoking is entirely prohibited (whether inside private dwellings or outside), or where certain sections of dwellings may be designated as smoking dwellings. While still a relatively new phenomenon, many California cities and communities such as Los Angeles have worked with the American Lung Association, which has been active in promoting anti-smoking policies in private residential buildings. Not surprisingly, such measures are somewhat controversial. While pro-smokers' rights groups have been vocal against such policies, most California cities allow landlords to place anti-smoking regulations at will because such stringent anti-smoking rules are in a context of landowners' private property. Also, anti-discrimination laws do not cover smokers, as smoking is not considered an inalienable right. According to the Los Angeles Daily News 82 % of Californian apartment-dwellers favor smoking restrictions in their buildings.

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