Catering establishments and bars with an area of more than 60 square metres will be the first to have to adopt the new regulations that stipulate that such establishments are classed as non-smoking.

Establishments with an area of less than 60 square metres will have to adopt the new regulations on 5 April next year.

The new regulations do allow establishments the choice of being totally smoke free or of having a smoking room.

Health Division Director Ray Busuttil said that the Malta Standards Authority had come up with two crucial factors. He said: “The first one is that no air extractor or purifier can remove smoke totally. Secondly, a partitioned smoking area is not feasible either as it will not protect non-smokers. The only solution is to have a smoking room.”

Without going into the specifics, Dr Busuttil said that any smoking room also needed air extractors and purifiers.

He added that such rooms had to have a spring loaded door to ensure that it closes automatically and also that special equipment needed to be installed to ensure that the rooms had a lower air pressure to ensure no smoke leaves the room when the door is open. If it is impossible for an establishment to have a smoking room, then it must become smoke-free.

Dr Busuttil said: “We are doing this to keep non-smokers safe. They are drastic measures, but nothing is too drastic when it comes to people’s health. There can be no half measures, you either protect health or you don’t.”

Dr Busuttil said there will be enforcement, but the public needed to know its rights. “The public needs to enforce this law as do establishment owners. People need to realise that everywhere will be non-smoking,” he said.

In fact, the Health Division will meet police chiefs on 20 September to discuss ways in which the law can be enforced. Asked by The Malta Independent, Dr Busuttil said there could also be a chance that wardens will be in charge of enforcing the regulations.

“There is no compromise when it comes to public health,” said Dr Busuttil. He said that one in three people in Malta smoke (counting casual smokers). “We have statistics to show that children first dabble in smoking at the age of about 11. Between the ages of 13 and 14, a pattern then begins to develop. Girls start earlier but are later overtaken by the boys,” he said.

Dr Busuttil said: “The aim is to nip smoking in the bud, before people embark on a life of smoking. We want to prevent rather than cure and regulations such as these help. In six months, cigarette sales in Ireland dropped by seven per cent,” he said.

Asked whether the eventual ideal goal would be to have smoking banned in general, Dr Busuttil joked: “Well if it was up to us, yes. But you have to draw a line – people’s homes are people’s homes. But at this point the idea is to restrict smoking as much as possible.”

Asked whether there would be any turning back this time, Dr Busuttil said: “No. This time the regulations are here to stay. We just gave the leisure industry time to conform and prepare for their introduction,” he said. Dr Busuttil said the fine for anyone caught smoking in a non-smoking area was of Lm100.

Speaking to journalists about his opinion on smoking, Dr Busuttil said: “If tobacco was discovered in today’s day and age, it would most definitely be banned and classed as a dangerous narcotic.”