Starting January 1, 2009 smoking in public spaces is banned

Smoking areas in public spaces need to be clearly delineated and ventilated properly, starting January 1, 2009. Inspectors protecting consumers’ rights will start a national level control, officials sources from the institution regulating the issue declared on Sunday, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax.

Starting January 1, 2009, all restaurants and bars need to allocate up to 50% of their space to smokers in ventilated and isolated rooms. Restaurants or bars with less than 100 sq meters can choose to function as either smoking units or non smoking ones.