Less than a week from now, on April 1 the smoking ban will go into full effect in Hungary. The new law was enacted on January 1, but contained a 3-month probation period during which the law was not enforced by officials. The result of this was not surprising: according to the research conducted by members of the CEU Weekly, the majority of bars all around the city ignored the ban in order to prevent their customers from choosing another nearby place that is not taking the regulations that seriously. Although a few places decided to adaptto the new law before the end of the probation period, the general attitude towards smoking seemed to be unchanged in the recent months.
Official figures suggest a somewhat different trend: during the probation, around 13 000 inspections took place, from which violations were only found in around 800 cases – these will be the places that the inspectors are going to visit first this Sunday.
Not only owners can be fined for breaking the non-smoking law, but us, individuals as well. If you get caught smoking somewhere you are not supposed to do so, you can be fined for up to 50 000 Forints. The new law prohibits smoking in public places, workplaces, on public transportation, underpasses, kindergartens and any place that is nearer than five meters from bus stops and kindergartens. Also, we have to say farewell to smoking on trains.
0 comments:
Post a Comment