Greece will fine with 1,500 euros smoking motorists when children below 12 years old are in the car. The fine will be imposed even it is not the driver who smokes but a passenger. The fine will be doubled if the vehicle is for public use – i.e. buses.
Furthermore, the driver will be punished with withdrawal of the driving license for one month.
The smoking passenger will not be fined as the law provides that it is the driver who bears responsibility on the matter.
The law does not include any provisions about the use of electronic cigarette due to lack of studies about the harm caused by the e-cigarette.
This is not a new legislation, but the update of the one decided in March 2017.
One that has been apparently not implemented as all the smoking ban regulations.
A circular issued by the Greek Health Ministry on Wednesday calls on citizens and those assigned with the implementation of the law to apply the prohibitions and reminds that
- for businesses the fines are between 500 and 10,000 euros, and for smokers between 50 and 500 euros.
Can any law force Greeks stop smoking? Hardly.
Do authorities have resources to implement the law? I don’t think so.
Has the law stopped bus drivers from smoking while on duty? No No.
Could the Health Ministry launch campaigns warning of the dangers of smoking and create an awareness about the issue? Yes, it could. Bit it doesn’t.
Reminding of the law once a year, doesn’t help much, imho.
PS the smoking issue has turned into an all-times joke in Greece.
This is one i support 100%. Smoke and stink up your own lungs, but leave the children and other innocents free from the filth!
hahahaha its not april fools day yet is it?
greece is the most liberal smoking country i have ever been to, you can pretty much smoke anywhere!
@ Transitory Post; Agreed. Children suffer because of irresponsible adults who are weak-willed and have no self-discipline. They also become offended when this is pointed out. Arrogance and ignorance are in play here.
The state has no right to get involved in this. If a youth is offended by the smoker the right way to solve this matter is to ask him or her politely to put it out for the duration of the trip. Why must government come in with threats of fines? It is unnecessary. Government just wants to control us and raise revenues through fines. A free country should not operate this way.
Excessive nanny and police state.