As of Monday 15th November 2010 Poland now has a total smoking ban in places such as hospitals, schools, train stations, restaurants and pubs.
Pubs and restaurants must now have a special place for smokers which is sealed off from the rest of the premises and specially designated for smoking.
However in a typical bizarre Polish fashion – even though the new law has already become effective, the Straż miejska (city guard) has not been given the powers to issue fines to anybody breaching the new rules. Apparently they won’t be able to do anything until the New Year 2011. Meanwhile if anybody calls them to complain about smokers they will simply issue a verbal warning.
As of 1st January 2011 they will be able to issue 500 PLN to smokers breaching the rules, and 2000 PLN fines to the owners of premises who let them.
According to statistics from 2009 there are about 9 million smokers in Poland, which is 34% of all Polish men and 21% of women.
Looking at this survey taken from the popular Polish news portal rmf24.pl it seems that over 66% of people are in favour of the new ban:
Quick English translation – “are you satisfied with the new restrictive anti-nicotine laws?”
- Yes, I’m a non-smoker
- Yes, despite being a smoker
- No, I’m a smoker
- No, despite being a non-smoker
See the latest statistics on this survey here.