Smoking ban must not put small businesses at disadvantage

A SMOKING law offering businesses the ability to maintain separate smoking areas would lead to serious discrimination between small and big establishments.

Explaining his position, DISY deputy Christos Pourgourides yesterday told the House Health Committee that according to a recent Supreme Court decision in Germany, small businesses would not have the same abilities as big ones to build designated areas, which would lead to serious discrimination between “rich and small businesses”.

“If a state wants to protect public health, then it can implement a full ban, but it can’t take measures that will lead to dire discriminations between rich and poor restaurants,” Pourgourides explained. “If we allow this, it will harm hundreds and even thousands of small shops.”

The Committee’s discussion, he added, concluded well, with all deputies without exception seeming willing to find a compromise solution that will please everybody.

Political parties will offer their final decision on DISY’s law proposal, which followed that of the Green Party for a full smoking ban in all public areas, next Thursday.

If passed, the ban will be implemented in the summer of 2010.

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