World No-Tobacco Day: 1.6M leva in fines since start of smoking ban – Bulgarian Health Ministry
A total of more than 1.62 million leva (about 828 000 euro) in fines has been issued since Bulgaria’s ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces such as restaurants and bars came into force in June 2012, Bulgaria’s Health Ministry said on May 29 2015.
The 28 regional health inspectorates in the country had carried out a total of 587 529 checks of 568 789 places on weekdays and weekend, the ministry said in a statement to mark May 31, World No-Tobacco Day.
Of these more than 100 000 were at dining and entertainment places, more than 75 000 at schools and children’s places of entertainment, and more than 150 000 at health care facilities.
A large number, 193 536, had been done at what the ministry termed “other indoor facilities for public purposes”, with the list including hairdressers’, beauty salons, gyms, hotels and motels, spas, shops, game rooms, swimming pools, railway stations, bus stations, vehicles, banks, insurance companies, office buildings, theatres, cinemas, hostels and internet cafes.
More than 13 000 were done at open public spaces covered by the June 2012 law – pavements and terrain adjacent to kindergartens, playgrounds, and at sports and cultural events where there were organised activities for children.
The Health Ministry said that the most of the breaches of the law were found in the catering and entertainment business, at coffee bars, cafés, bars, restaurants, gambling halls, casinos, and also at workplaces.
The largest number of citations issued for breaking the law were in Sofia, followed by Plovdiv, Dobrich, Bourgas, Blagoevgrad and Varna.
(Photo: Valentin Rasulov/freeimages.com)
