In the last few years, several anti-smoking campaigns were launched in Switzerland. Surveys showed that 64% of the Swiss population endorse general smoking bans in restaurants and bars, whilst 78% of people would wish to see smoking banned in the workplace.
An increasing number of the 26 Swiss Cantons have started to enact Cantonal anti-smoking laws, prohibiting or limiting smoking in restaurants and bars, and in some Cantons, public places. Pioneered by the Canton of Ticino, which enacted its anti-smoking law in 2007, several other Cantons have now prepared similar smoking bans for their territories. Anti-smoking laws in the Canton of Geneva came into force on 1 July 2008. Anti-smoking laws in the Cantons of Basel, Zurich and Bern, (to name just a few) have set up draft laws which are subject to referenda later this year and in the first quarter of 2009, and are expected to enter into force shortly thereafter. As a result, smoking in restaurants (and other public places) will be subject to a relatively complex set of rules varying from Canton to Canton.
Whereas smoking in restaurants and bars is regulated at Canton-level, smoking in the workplace is regulated at Federal level by way of the Federal Act on Labour in Industry, Business and Trade of 13 March 1964 and its implementing ordinance no. 3 of 18 August 1993. Accordingly, it is the employer’s duty to take all necessary measures to protect non-smoking employees in the workplace. However, due to the wide scope of the applicable provisions, many practitioners still consider the provisions to be insufficient to protect non-smoking employees.
Furthermore, in 2007 the Federal parliament introduced the draft Federal Act for the Protection Against Passive Smoking. Under this Act, smoking will be generally prohibited in public places, such as hospitals, schools, restaurants and administrative buildings. The details of the draft law are still being debated in Parliament.
So whilst regulations protecting against passive smoking are relatively new in Switzerland, Switzerland is starting to follow the international trend to restrict smoking and protect non-smokers.
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