Spain

Spanish Empire


Spain, officially the kingdom of Spain, is a member state of the European Union, located
in the south western Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The population of Spain is
estimated about 47,000,000 in 2009. Total GDP was estimated $1,395 trillion in 2008.

The territory of Spain was subject to many external influences, often simultaneously,
since prehistoric times and through the dawn of Spain as a country. Conversely, the
country itself has been an important source of influence to other regions, mainly,
during Modern Era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of that
over 400 million Spanish speakers today.
Source: Wikipedia

(L) The Alhambra palace complex in Granada.
(R) 'The Second of May 1808' by Francisco Goya.

(L) Ferdinand �Uand Isabella �T (R) The city of Seville


A ban on smoking in the workplace went into effect in January 2006.

Spain prohibited smoking at workplace, and smoking in bars and restaurants larger than 100 sq m.
From January 2006, Spain prohibited smoking at the workplace. For bars and restaurants that are
larger than 100 sq meters, the new law allows the creation of separate smoking rooms. For bars
and restaurants that are smaller than 100 sq meters, the owner may have the choice of going to
smoke free or allowing smoking inside.

In May 2007, the Spanish Consumers Organization reported that a 10 per cent of small bars and
15 percent of small restaurants adopted to ban smoking in their premises.
Source: European Public Health Alliance


　Source: Wikipedia

The new law bans smoking in offices, shops, schools, hospitals, cultural centres and on public transport.
Businesses occupying more than 100sq m have eight months to set up a separate smoking area.
The government says the ban is necessary because smoking is the biggest killer in Spain, with the
50,000 smoking-related deaths annually. Surveys show that about 30% of Spaniards smoke.
A government-sponsored opinion poll released in December 2005 showed more than 70% of
respondents supported the ban. The law was passed by the Spanish parliament in December 2005,
with 297 of the 350 deputies in the lower house voting for it.
Source: BBC News January 2, 2006




A restaurant in the streets of Toledo, Spain


Plans for fast-track prohibition on lighting up in all public places have infuriated the country's
recession-hit pub.

Official figures show 50,000 Spaniards die from smoking each year. Spain'sreputation as one of
the last smokers' paradises in Western Europa is set tobe stubbed out by June 2010 after the
government revealed plans for fast-tracklegislation to ban lighting up in all public places. It is
currently illegal in thecountry of Spain to smoke in most places of work. However, Madrid's
ministry of health wants the outright prohibition, including inside all bars, restaurants and cafes.

In the Spanish parliament, the law should gain strong support. Politicians maywell find it
difficult to argue against figures claiming that 50,000 Spaniardsdie each year because of the
smoking-related illnesses, and about 1,400 as consequent on passive smoking.

Opposition is much greater in Spain's hotel, restaurant and bar trades. Tourism is one of Spain's
main economic motors, and the world recession has alreadyhad an important knock-on effect:
banning smoking, it is feared, would only increase the damage.

The current stand-off between the government and pub landlords has beenexacerbated by
Spain's previous anti-smoking law, passed in 2006. A clauseinsisting bars more than 100 square
meters in size build a special non-smoking area incurred major costs for some owners - and the
government has not announced it will provide compensation despite the imminent new changes.

Recent studies showed that smoking is on the increase in Spain, and culturally, the impact of
a ban may well be much greater than in other European countries. Smoking still forms part of
Spain's social fabric; at weddings, mini-packets of cigarettes or cigars bearing the happy couple's
initials are regularly passed round the guests. "We all like smoke-free workplaces. Tobacco
doesn't form part of our business. However, the transition to prohibition should be more gradual,
not brought in at the full speed."

Source: The independent, 17 January 2010


VIDEO Reuters.news/January 17, 2010


Placa d'Espanya, Barcelona, Spain (Photographed in May 2010)


Spain can plug the loophole at anti-smoking law in 2011.

In 2006, the Spanish government introduced a partial ban that offered loopholes to
the country's many tiny, family-owned eateries and bars. Now the health ministry
has drafted a tougher law that cracks down on the entire dining-and-drinking scene,
from multi-level discos to 10-seat bars.

The Spanish parliament is expected to approve the ban in June 2010, and it is
expected to take effect in 2011. We, non-smokers, don't want to breathe the
second-hand smoke, and tourists increasingly want smoke-free spaces,
the Health Minister, T Jimenez, told a parliamentary committee.

However, bar and restaurant owners are pushing hard to block the total smoking ban.
They fear that restricting smoking could hurt their already-ailing sector and
eventually cause precarious small businesses to close, since a dire prospect in a country
with 20 per cent unemployment. We understand that we are justifiably moving toward
prohibition, but let's go slower. Give us more time. J L Guerra, the vice president of
the national federation of bars and restaurants, told The Independent. He said that
a smoking ban would cause consumption to drop by 7 % in bars and 20 % in discos.

Medical associations and trade unions support the ban to protect the 1.25 million
waiters, cooks and their service workers, who inhale the second hand smoke of
their clients.
Source: The Independent 02 June 2010


スペイン： 中途半端な飲食店規制

北はフランス、西はポルトガルに隣接した国。4300万人ほどの人々が居住している。
スペインはEUの一員で、通貨はユーロを使用している。スペインは一日、５回食事
することで知られている。メインの食事は午後２時ころにとる。

スペインでは人口の30％が喫煙者であり、年間５万人の人が喫煙が原因で死亡して
いる。スペイン政府はタバコ病の拡大を防止するため、2006年1月に「禁煙法」を施行
した。規制内容は次のようになっている。

〔全面禁煙〕
＊　病院、学校、職場、スポーツ施設の建物内
＊　食品を取扱う店舗
＊　飛行機、バス、タクシー
＊　電車、駅（屋外エリアは除く）
＊　分離した喫煙スペースのない100sqm 以上の
　　　すべてのレストラン、カフェ、バー　
＊　船舶 （国内線、国際線）

100sqm 以下の飲食店を対象から外したことから、本来の受動喫煙防止法の目的から大きく離れ、
中途半端な規制となっている。小さな飲食店で全面禁煙とするか否かは店舗それぞれの判断による。
多くの欧州諸国が喫煙規制を強化するなか、中小飲食店経営者の強い規制反対に遭遇して、
スペイン政府は喫煙を容認せざるを得なかったと見てよいだろう。2007年5月現在、自主的に
全面禁煙に踏み切った店は全体の１５％以下である。旅行者からの苦情も少なくない。

多くの欧州諸国が喫煙規制を強化するなか、スペインに於ける公共空間での喫煙規制はなまぬるく、
タバコが起因で死亡するものが年間5万人を越え、受動喫煙による死者が1400人に達し、最近は
スペインで喫煙率に増加の兆しが見られていることなどから、議会は2010年6月までにレストラン、
カフェ、バーを含む公共的空間の全面禁煙を行う方針を打ち出した。しかし、バー業界では全面的な
喫煙規制に対し強く反対している。その背景には英国、フランスなどで酒場の廃業が相次いでいる
ことや、長引く景気の低迷の追い打ちを受け収益が悪化していることがある。スペインの社会には
まだ結婚式のときに新郎新婦のイニシャルを記したタバコを回しのみする風習が残っており、
タバコに対する有害意識は薄く、英国や
北欧の国とは違った受け止め方が感じられる。政府は国民に生活様式の転換を求めているが、庶民は
職場での全面禁煙には賛同しても、あまり急速な政策転換には従いたくないのが本音のようだ。


Spain 2006-2011
Madrid tour Segovia High-speed train in Spain Barcelona metro and railway Gaudi's masterpiece
Barcelona tour Smoking ban in Spain in 2010

　Hotsprings, Ourense
　Spain enforced a total smoking ban in indoor public space in 2011.


スペインで中規模以上の公共的空間を全面禁煙へ
2006年2月執筆　2008年6月加筆 　2009年12月英文加筆　2010年2月加筆 2010年6月加筆
執筆　医学博士　宮本順伯
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The article was written in September 2006, and last revised in June 2010,
by Junhaku Miyamoto, M.D., PhD.
Copyright (C) 2006 Junhaku Miyamoto, PhD. All right is reserved.