BA City bars and restaurants now 100% smoke-free

The City of Buenos Aires put forth the steps to become 100% smoke-free, after amendments were made yesterday to the anti-tobacco laws, totally prohibiting the use of smoking areas in restaurants and bars in the capital.

The City Government put forward the measure in a bid to ensure all closed public areas in the Capital be completely smoke-free.

The amendments were finalised late last night, to the law that was voted in December 2010, bringing vast changes to Buenos Aires cafe culture, as those who smoke will now have to go outside.

Plainly, sites that constructed special smoking areas within bars and restaurants as early as 2005, when article 21 of law 1799 insisted tobacco controls be put in place – will now be left slightly astray due to the new measures taken by the Macri administration.

According to official sources, most downtown bars and restaurants already closed these areas –that put other customers and moreover, café/bar staff at risk of secondhand smoking- after the anti-tobacco laws were passed last year. However for those that hadn’t, now will be their time to do so in the latest move by the City government to crackdown on smoking.