Last update - 00:00 25/07/2007
Smokers to be fined NIS 1,000 for lighting up in public places
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset approved a substantial increase on Wednesday in the fine charged to people caught violating a law against smoking cigarettes in public places.
Smokers and establishment owners will now be charged NIS 1,000 and 5,000, respectively, as opposed to the previous fine of NIS 310 or 630.
MKs Gilad Erdan (Likud) and Yoel Hasson (Kadima) initiated the bill, which received the support of all 34 lawmakers present at the time of the vote.
The new law determines that a smoker who violates the law will pay NIS 1,000, while the owner of the establishment who did not ask the smoker to put out the cigarette will be fined NIS 5,000.
Establishment owners caught putting out ashtrays in public areas in which smoking is prohibited will be fined NIS 1,290.
Organizations dedicated to fighting cancer applauded the passage of the new law, which requires local authorities to post a phone number which citizens can call to complain about public smoking, and call local authorities to the scene.
The law will not pertain security offices and Israel Defense Forces bases, where officials will be requested to uphold the law without the intervention of law enforcement bodies.
According to Erdan, business and mall owners were only required until now to hang signs forbidding smoking, while the new law will make it mandatory for the owners to actively forbid smoking on their premises, with a real threat of enforcement giving them incentive to do so.