The strictest part of Russia’s anti-tobacco law comes into force on June 1, making it illegal to smoke cigarettes in cafés and restaurants.
The smoking ban also spreads across to hotels and marketplaces,
as well as long distance trains, train stations, and ships.
From now on, smoking areas will cease to exist in eating
establishments across Russia, with special rooms for tobacco
lovers also forbidden.
Café and restaurant owners must remove all ashtrays and hang
warning signs which inform customers that smoking is prohibited
inside the establishment.
A violation of the ban will result in significant fines - which
must be paid by both the smoker and the owner of the
establishment.
An individual owner will be forced to part with 30,000-40,000
rubles (around US$870-1,150) if one of his customers is caught
puffing a cigarette. Meanwhile, a chain-run corporate business
must pay a larger penalty of 60,000-90,000 rubles (around
$1,700-2,600) for the same crime.
Eighty-two percent of Russian restaurateurs believe the smoking
ban is a “direct discrimination of smokers” and expect a
huge outflow of visitors starting from June 1.
According to research performed by Levada Center in April, only
17 percent suggested that the restrictive measures won’t affect
their client base. Just one percent of 124 restaurant and café
owners from 48 Russian cities who took part in the poll believe
the smoking ban will help attract new clients.
The survey was ordered by the All-Russian Movement for Smokers’
Rights, which is co-chaired by 63-year-old Soviet film star
Mikhail Boyarsky.
In his interview with Itar-Tass news agency, Boyarsky said that
in his opinion, the anti-smoking law won’t be able to take root
in Russia and will simply “vanish” because people will
simply stop going to restaurants.
“There’s just a fierce struggle for crazy money going on
between those who produce tobacco and those who try to ban
it,” he explained, urging those involved to “let the
people be.”
The president of Russia’s Bartenders’ Association, Sergey Tsyro,
believes that chances are high that people will now “try to look
for ways to get around” the smoking ban.
“For example, they’ll open membership clubs where food won’t
be served and non-smokers will be denied entrance,” he said.
The law will particularly impact establishments that serve
shisha, as it sometimes brings up to 30 percent of revenue to
restaurants and cafés, Tsyro said at a Friday press conference in
Moscow.
Cafés and restaurants should be given the chance to themselves
decide whether they should allow smoking or not, Igor Bukharov,
president of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers,
stressed.
The same stance was previously expressed in a petition that
called on Russian lawmakers to stand up against the smoking ban
and gathered over 100,000 people in mid-May.
Meanwhile, restaurant owners who implemented the smoking ban
ahead of time say there's no reason to panic.
Since the ‘Dorogaya, ya perezvonu’ (“Darling, I’ll call you
back”) bar chain became tobacco-free on March 31, “there was
a small churn of clients – perhaps they moved to places where
smoking was still allowed – but, in general, we received a lot of
positive feedback from our visitors,” co-owner Dmitry
Levitsky told Vedomosti newspaper.
Planeta Gostepriimstva (Hospitality Planet) group, which owns
several popular Russian food chains, has already banned smoking
in some of its restaurants. According to company president Merab
Elashvili, the move “led to revenue falling by 10-12
percent.”
The executive director of Restcon consulting company, Andrey
Petrakov, said that a slight outflow of clients is expected after
June 1, but he believes attendance at restaurants will be quickly
restored.
The same thing happened in Europe when it introduced similar
anti-tobacco laws, he reminded.
About 60 percent of men and some 20 percent of women smoke in
Russia, according to an analysis published in The Lancet in 2012.
The law “On protection of citizens' health from tobacco smoke and
the consequences of tobacco consumption” was signed by President
Putin in February last year and fully came into effect on June 1,
2013.
However, the restrictions were introduced gradually. Smoking was
first outlawed in certain public places - including educational,
healthcare, and sports facilities, as well as airports, state
administration buildings, and lifts and stairways of apartment
blocks.
Earlier this week, Russia’s Health Ministry announced that the
anti-tobacco law is working and the number of smokers in Russia
has decreased 16-17 percent since it started being introduced.
The sale of cigarettes in Russia fell by 6-12 percent in the
first quarter of 2014, Nikolay Gerasimenko, first deputy chairman
of the Russian Parliament’s healthcare committee, announced in
mid-May.
“According to the feedback, the number of smokers has
decreased. People begin to understand and support the fight
against smoking,” he said.