Health minister to table reworked anti-smoking legislation

Reworked anti-smoking legislation - taking into account a number of changes suggested by MPs in the lower house last week - is to be put forward at the cabinet meeting on Monday by Health Minister Svatopluk Němeček. The ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, similarly to last week's rejected bill, will apply to cigarettes and cigars but not, for example, electronic cigarettes or hookahs. The new legislation would also newly ban smoking at public bus and tram stops and at the zoo, with the exception of designated exterior areas. The reworked law does not include a proposal put forward last week by Civic Democrat MP Marek Benda for restaurants to have special rooms for smokers, service-free, to protect restaurant personnel from second-hand smoke. That was a sticking point for eight MPs from the ruling coalition's ANO Party, and led to the bill's rejection. If approved by the government and passed by Parliament, the new legislation could come into effect in January 2017 - half a year later than originally intended.