Litigation
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In the decision Delahunty v Player and Willis (Ireland) Ltd. , the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that an Irish citizen has the right to seek damages against tobacco companies.
Smoking in Ireland is banned fully in the general workplace, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport. However, it is permitted in designated hotel rooms and there is no ban in residential care, prisons and in outdoor areas. [1] Public opinion is in favour of the bans on smoking imposed in Ireland. [2]
Currently, Irish law prohibits smoking fully in the general workplace, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport. Smoking rooms are permitted in hotels. [1]
As of July 2009, it is prohibited to advertise cigarettes and sell 10-packs of cigarettes in retail outlets. Additionally, as of February 2013, any tobacco product placed on the market must have graphic warnings. [3] There is also legislation which introduced plain tobacco packaging and made Ireland the sixth country to do so. [4] [ needs update ]
Smoking in workplaces in Ireland was banned on 29 March 2004. From that date onwards, under the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts, it has been illegal to smoke in all enclosed workplaces. The ban is strictly enforced and includes bars, restaurants, clubs, offices, public buildings, company cars, trucks, taxis and vans. A private residence is considered a workplace when tradespeople, such as plumbers or electricians, are working there. €3,000 is the maximum fine on the spot, while a prison sentence can also be given at a later time for violators. The law exempts dwellings, prisons, nursing homes, psychiatric wards, hotel rooms, charitable accommodation and college dorm rooms. Certain buildings such as some hospitals forbid smoking anywhere in the grounds.
Before the 2004 law, smoking was already outlawed in public buildings, hospitals, schools, restaurant kitchens, cinemas, public pharmacies, public hairdressing premises, public banking halls, and on public transport aircraft and buses and some trains (Intercity trains provided smokers' carriages). [5]
Premises must display a sign to inform patrons of the ban (in Irish or English), and the contact person for any complaints. A workplace can be given a fine of €3,000 for each person that is found smoking (this means €15,000 for 5 people in violation). Smoking rooms are not allowed. Any shelter can not have more than 50 percent coverage of walls. There is also a Compliance Line set up by the Office of Tobacco Control, that people can call to report people smoking in a workplace or retail outlets selling tobacco to under-18s.[ citation needed ]
On 18 July 2008, Irish Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle proposed in a committee in the European Parliament, that she would like to see an EU-wide ban on cigarettes and cigars by 2025. [6]
On 1 July 2009, Ireland banned in-store tobacco advertising and displays of tobacco products at retail outlets and new controls on tobacco vending machines (limiting them to being token-operated in registered bars and clubs only) were also introduced. At the same time a ban on the sale of packets of 10 cigarettes was introduced. Tobacco advertising had already been banned from radio, television and on billboards beforehand. The changes now mean that tobacco products must now be stored out of sight in closed containers behind the counter (accessible by retail staff only) and customers can be shown a card showing all available brands in a pictorial list if they wish to purchase cigarettes. Signs must also be shown informing customers that tobacco is sold at the premises. Ireland was the first country in the EU and third in the world (after Canada and Iceland) to introduce such measures, which are punishable with a fine of €3,000 and/or a six-month prison sentence. However, specialist tobacco shops (of which there are fewer than six) are exempt from the new rules; all retailers selling tobacco must register with the Health Service Executive and the new laws will be enforced by environmental health officers.[ citation needed ]
As of 1 February 2013, any tobacco product placed on the market must have graphic warnings. [3] The Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly's proposal to introduce plain tobacco packaging was approved by the Cabinet and has been in place since early 2014. [4] [ needs update ] As of September 2017 all cigarettes must remove all logos and feature plain packaging. [7]
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In the decision Delahunty v Player and Willis (Ireland) Ltd. , the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that an Irish citizen has the right to seek damages against tobacco companies.
The public, according to a Flash Eurobarometer poll conducted by the Gallup Organisation in 2008 for the European Commission, is in favour of a full ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, offices and other indoor workplaces. [2]
 Italy |  Ireland |  EU27 |  Austria |  Czech Republic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totally in favour of ban in restaurants | 88.4% | 77.9% | 62.5% | 37.6% | 58.4% |
| Totally in favour of ban in bars, pubs and clubs | 86.5% | 70.1% | 46.7% | 24.2% | 27.1% |
| Totally in favour of ban in offices and other indoor workplaces | 88.3% | 79.1% | 72.5% | 66% | 40.8% |
According to the above poll there is a majority of people who support the ban on smoking introduced in 2004.
Since 2009, Irish anti-smoking campaigners and scientists had been urging the government to introduce such a ban. [8] [9] In July 2011 the Minister for Health said that he was considering a ban where children are present in the car. [10] From 1 January 2016 regulations make it an offence for a person to smoke in a private vehicle when there is more than one person present and there is a person under the age of 18 present. The offence would fall on the person smoking regardless of their age.[ citation needed ]
The senator and oncologist John Crown put a bill before parliament in 2012 to ban smoking in a car with children. [11] [12] This bill was passed into law in December 2014 with an expectation that enforcement by Gardaí would commence in 2015. [13]
Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor workplaces and buildings open to the public such as restaurants, bars, office buildings, schools, retail stores, hospitals, libraries, transport facilities, and government buildings, in addition to public transport vehicles such as aircraft, buses, watercraft, and trains. However, laws may also prohibit smoking in outdoor areas such as parks, beaches, pedestrian plazas, college and hospital campuses, and within a certain distance from the entrance to a building, and in some cases, private vehicles and multi-unit residences.
The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament passed in 2005, after being introduced by Scottish Executive Health minister Andy Kerr.
Because of the damage to health due to smoking in the United Kingdom it may be the first country to ban sales of cigarettes to people born after 2008.
The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act is a comprehensive smoking ban that took effect in New Jersey on April 15, 2006. The law prohibits smoking in most workplaces as well as in indoor public areas. The Act has been amended a number of times including in 2009 to extend the ban to electronic smoking devices and in 2018 to extend the ban to public parks and beaches. A notable exception to the smoking ban is in casinos, but legislation to remove this exception is currently pending in the New Jersey Legislature. The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act also allows municipalities to enact their own restrictions on smoking.
The loi Évin is the French alcohol and tobacco policy law passed in 1991. It takes its name from Claude Évin, then Minister of Health, who proposed it to Parliament.
The Smoke-Free Illinois Act is a comprehensive anti-smoking law that took effect in Illinois on January 1, 2008. It bans smoking inside most buildings and vehicles used by the general public, used as a place of employment, or owned by the government or other public body. It also requires "no smoking" signs, bans smoking within 15 feet (4.6 m) of openings in the targeted buildings, and requires at least 75% of rooms in each hotel to be non-smoking. The act replaced the previous Illinois Clean Indoor Air Act.
The use of tobacco for smoking in New Zealand has been subjected to government regulation for a number of decades. On 10 December 2004, New Zealand became the third country in the world to make all indoor workplaces including bars and restaurants smoke-free. The smoking rate in New Zealand was about 8% as of 2023 when the new government planned to eliminate the nation's smoking ban to fund tax cuts.
Tobacco politics refers to the politics surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco.
Tobacco smoking in Hong Kong has declined in recent decades, with 10 percent of Hong Kongers smoking on a daily basis as of 2017. It is the policy of the Hong Kong government to discourage smoking. Smoking is banned in most public places and tobacco advertising is prohibited.
About a quarter of adults in Turkey smoke. Smoking in Turkey is banned in government offices, workplaces, bars, restaurants, cafés, shopping malls, schools, hospitals, and all forms of public transport, including trains, taxis and ferries. Turkey's smoking ban includes provisions for violators, where anyone caught smoking in a designated smoke-free area faces a fine of 188 Turkish lira (~€9.29/$9.90/£8.22) and bar owners who fail to enforce the ban could be fined from 560 liras for a first offence up to 5,600 liras. The laws are enforced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Turkey.
SmokinginCanada is banned in indoor public spaces, public transit facilities and workplaces, by all territories and provinces, and by the federal government. As of 2010, legislation banning smoking within each of these jurisdictions is mostly consistent, despite the separate development of legislation by each jurisdiction. Notable variations between the jurisdictions include: whether, and in what circumstances ventilated smoking rooms are permitted; whether, and up to what distance away from a building is smoking banned outside of a building; and, whether smoking is banned in private vehicles occupied by children.
In Germany, smoking is widespread and is subject to very few and lax regulations compared to other countries in Europe. Tobacco taxes in Germany are among the lowest in Europe. Germany ranks last on the Tobacco Control Scale and has sometimes been referred to as the "smoker's paradise" of Europe. According to German addiction researcher Heino Stöver, Germany has "[...] more cigarette vending machines than any other country in the world."
Smoking in South Korea has decreased overall for both men and women in the past decades. However, a high prevalence of tobacco use is still observed, especially with the rise of novel tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heat-not-burn tobacco products. There are socioeconomic inequalities in smoking prevalence according to gender, income, education, and occupational class. Advocates call for measures to reduce the smoking rates and address smoking inequalities using a combination of monitoring and tobacco control policies. These measures include significant price hikes, mandatory warning photos on cigarette packs, advertising bans, financial incentives, medical help for quitting, and complete smoking bans in public places.
Tobacco is an agricultural product acting as a stimulant triggering complex biochemical and neurotransmitter disruptions. Its main ingredient is nicotine and it is present in all cigarettes. Early tobacco usage was for medical cures and religious purposes. In the early 1900s, cigarette usage became increasingly popular when it was sold in mass amounts. In 1964, the Surgeon General of the United States wrote a report concerning the dangers of cigarette smoking. In the United States, for the past 50 years efforts have been made so that the public should be aware of the risks of tobacco usage.
The Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act, also known as the Smokefree Workplace Law, is a measure passed in 1981 by the US State of Oregon prohibiting smoking in public indoor places except in certain designated smoking areas. The objective is to protect non-smokers in confined areas from second-hand smoke. Beginning on January 1, 2016, the law was extended to cover "inhalant delivery systems" such as e-cigarettes.
Executive Order No. 26, entitled Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-Free Environments in Public and Enclosed Places, was issued by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on May 16, 2017. This executive order invoked the Clean Air Act of 1999 and the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 to impose a nationwide ban on smoking in all public places in the Philippines. The ban replicates on a national level an existing ordinance in Davao City that Duterte created as mayor in 2002. The order took effect on July 23, 2017, 60 days after its publication in a newspaper.
