Estonian Social Ministry wants to impose further restrictions on smoking

TALLINN - While currently people can still smoke quite freely in public space outdoors in Estonia, the state intends to toughen the tobacco policy from autumn, Eesti Paevaleht writes.

"We have a proposal for the government on the table to implement a non-smoking zone in front of all public buildings," Social Ministry’s Health Sphere Deputy Chancellor Ivi Normet said.

"The agreement has not yet been achieved on how many meters the smoke-free zone should be big but it has to be there and that includes entrances of shopping centers too," she said.

Normet said that there are no direct bans under discussion but the intention is to start restricting the possibilities to smoke in workplaces too gradually, by abolishing the smoking rooms, but Normet assured that this will be a gradual process.

Smoking is prohibited in most public indoor spaces in Estonia, including bars and restaurants, being allowed only if there are specially ventilated smoking rooms present.