No to smoking, yes to loopholes…

«Yes, but…»: in two words,  this is the attitude of the ministry of Health regarding the smoking issue, a few days before the end of the time limit for the revaluation of the antismoking bill.

So on one hand the ministry, with measures for the implementation in enclosed public spaces through a new amendment, is hastily putting the Health “Rambo” team in a pivotal controlling position and on the other, assigns an intra-ministerial team to look into the possibility of special permits – with profit of course – for bars and relevant social nightlife spaces.

At the same time owners are strongly opposed to the implementation, citing the economic situation and its effect in their sector, persistently asking the Health ministry to temporarily stop the prohibition for the next 1-2 years.
 
 Checks are intensifying

Ministry officials use every chance they get to show their skepticism for the non-implementation of the antismoking legislation in restaurants, bars, coffee shops and other such spaces, but they will uphold the law too.

General Secretary of Public Health Antonis Dimopoulos’ statement yesterday, issued after the meeting with the representatives of restaurant owners, is characteristic: «For the citizens' health the ministry will continue the implementation of the antismoking law in enclosed public spaces. Towards this end we have started health education programs in the schools to prevent students, parents and teachers from smoking. At the same time the Smoking Prevention Clinics of the EST hospitals, the Prevention Centers for Addictive Substances and public clinics are continuing to expand their prevention and quitting actions in municipalities and Armed Forces».

«We do know that in many cases there were incidents of weak control» so towards proper implementation there will be a new regulation within the next days for the participation of the Health Inspector team of the Ministry of Health (SEYYP) in the first-degree checks.

According to the current legislation these checks can be conducted by Health Supervisors or Municipal Police while with the new amendment the Health Inspectors’ team gets an upgrade. Meanwhile, meetings have been held during the last days between antismoking auditors and ministry officials, with the latter giving the clear message that law must be upheld!
 

…and the exception scenarios

The deadline for assessment or evaluation of the antismoking law expires next Wednesday, December 15 – as set by the leadership of the Ministry of Health since October 1, when the law was officially applied.

However, according to sources of protothema.gr the exemption proposition for some of the enclosed public spaces was received with great enthusiasm!

An order was given right away for a joint research with experts from the ministry of Finance which would realize this scenario; in other words legalize the special permit fee and mainly the range of fines and the way they are to be collected.

Within the next days this team will inform the heads of the ministries about the details of the amendment and decide whether they will open the window something that is long-awaited by a large number of business owners. Even if this shuts down all hope for total public health protection for the citizens and more importantly the minors of this country…