Hi all, I heard from a restaurant that on January MAYBE they will start to enforce the non-smoking law.
On the other hand, I saw saturday in banhofstrasse, ZH, a stand with some people colleting signatures for a Volkinitiative law for smoking ban. I was actually wanting to sign for it... But how could I dare that with my crappy L permit?

Beside, it's the residents' call to decide if they want to have more cancers, increase health costs...

Uhm.. Health costs, curing cancers costs money. Would this be an argument to finally pass a decent smoke ban law here? And NO, the restaurants and bars will not go bankrupt. See rest of europe...

BTW I don't really get this hostility to a smoking ban. Are some tobacco companies swiss-based? Or they have their billionaire accounts here and threaten to withdraw money if they don't allow advertising?

I don't think that the tobacco companies have much to do with Zurich not yet getting the ban. There are two major companies with large offices in Lausanne, Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco, and they weren't able to stop the smoking ban in restaurants and bars starting in Vaud last month (thankfully). Zurich certainly needs to get their act together and get the ban in place and enforced.

Happy New Year!

Is there any update on the smoking ban in Zurich now that it is 2010? I had heard that it was going into effect starting January 1st, but I haven't seen anything about it.

It's now scheduled for May 1st, 2010 (parallel legislation on federal and cantonal level).

Martin

Thanks for the update! I was afraid that it wasn't going into effect now. I'm bummed there will be another 4 months of smoke.

Yup, we've got another 4 months of avoiding smoke filled bars and restaurants or washing our clothes and showering when we get home late at night to look forward to...

I'll see it when I believe it.

I'm not convinced it'll happen, simply.

Whether you are convinced or not is irrelevant. It is law, and it is fixed.

It is now official and fixed. Thanks to Mr Couchepin, who a few days before leaving the Federal government signed the necessary papers. This left no alternative to the Zürich government than to put the Zürich ban (stricter than the federal one) into effect on the same date. You see, health is a matter of the Canton, so that the Federal law is setting minimum standards, while each Canton is allowed to be stricter. Even Mr Bachmann, the Zurich gastro Ayatollah, who into November ranted about "transition periods" has become unusually silent.

An interesting question is how those "fumoirs" will be like. I fear that some owners will turn the nicest parts of their places into fumoirs. For example, the owner of the Bahnhof-Restaurant in Adliswil already a year ago said that she most likely will turn the centre-part of her restaurant into a fumoir. This means that the "no service" thing for her will be no problem as she simply will put the drinks for the smokers onto the counter, trusting that her customers are able to transfer them one or two meters to the tables. That she is a strong smoker of course is fact.

Here an important aspect out of the official documentation :

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Die vom Zürcher Stimmvolk in der Volksabstimmung vom 28. September 2008 angenommene Änderung von Paragraph 22 des Gastgewerbegesetzes sieht lediglich die Möglichkeit zur Schaffung von Fumoirs, nicht jedoch von Raucherbetrieben vor. Dies stellt gegenüber dem Bundesrecht eine strengere Regelung dar. Die vom Bund vorgesehene Ausnahmeregelung für Kleinbetriebe unter 80 Quadratmeter, die auf Gesuch hin als komplette Raucherbetriebe geführt werden können, findet darum im Kanton Zürich keine Anwendung

The change of para 22 of the gastronomy law, as approved by the electorate of the Canton of Zürich on 28 September 2008, only sees the possibility to create Fumoirs, not however smoking restaurants. This is stricter than the union law. The exception prescribed by the union, which allows smoking places for small bars and restaurants of less than 80 square meters, will therefore NOT be applied in the Canton of Zürich.

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For more details you can look things up under
http://www.awa.zh.ch/internet/vd/awa...uchverbot.html

sorry, only in German, as German is the only official language of the Canton of Zurich

The new legislation was actually signed by Bundespräsident Merz and Bundeskanzlerin Casanova. *SCNR*

Martin

Absolutely correct, except that these were the "official" signatures needed. But Couchepin as Interior Minister (in charge with health) had to sign first. Mr Merz and Mrs Casanova were never really in charge as Mr Merz is Finance Minister and Mrs Chancellor is the Federal "organiser".

Can't wait to stop hearing people visiting saying "WHAT?!?!? They still smoke in restaurants HERE?"

Well, such things change. In the 70ies, people in Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey smoked twice as much as people in Switzerland, where the share of smokers had gone down to below 25%. But already in the early 80ies, a cousin who was teacher in a technical college warned that the share would go up to 35% and not down. He was right as it is really above 30% again now. It therefore is so important that it in Zurich is the result of a public vote and not just a whim of the Cantonal government. The Federal ban is based on Cantonal votes in a majority of Cantons, which INclude Geneva and Ticino, so that it also is NOT just a whim of the "Alémaniques" ! It admittedly took awfully long, but is seriously and democratically based. That in Zurich, the counter-proposal of the government was drowned very clearly in favour of the real ban made things plainly clear and took the wind out of the sails of those Gastronomic associations who were against the ban.

At the other hand, when I heard about the bans in France, Italy and Greece, I was completely speechless !

Hi,

well North Carolina has just brought in a smoking ban and if it can work there, which is the where a lot of tobacco is farmed then really it should be no problem in Switzerland.

2010 is going to be a great year ...roll on April in Basel and May in the rest of the country

Happy 2010

Martin