It is now official that both the Federal smoking ban and the Cantonal one in Zurich will become effective on 1st May 2010. The Canton of Zurich one will be stricter than the Federal one. The Federal law sets minimum standards, but Cantons are free to be stricter. Under Federal law, small sized restaurants can declare themselves to be "smoker-places" but under Zurich law they cannot. The only problem now is that "gastronomy-chief" Mr Bachmann tries to press through a transition period of a full year. I just hope that the Cantonal government does not yield to this demand.