(MADRID) — The tapas bar — the noisy and bustling Spanish success story that combined delicious morsels with good wine and, often, an ever-present cigarette — is now smoke-free. So are restaurants, discos, casinos, airports and even some outdoor spaces.
Spain on Sunday introduced an anti-smoking law that is likely to turn the EU’s fourth largest tobacco producer from a cigarette-friendly land abounding with smoky bars and restaurants, into one of Europe’s most stringently smokeless.
The law prohibits lighting up in enclosed public places, although hotels are allowed to reserve 30 percent of their rooms for smokers. In a particularly tough measure, outside smoking is banned in open-air children’s playgrounds — even those set inside parks — and at access points to schools and hospitals.
Full story: Spain enacts tough anti-smoking law