BEIRUT: Batroun MP Antoine Zahra proposed
urgent amendments to the smoking ban which went into effect last month and
called on the Parliament to approve it to help revive the country’s already
struggling tourism sector.
Amendments to the nonsmoking ban proposed by
Zahra include designated sections for smokers and would also yield income to
the treasury via taxes, the politician said Thursday.
“I submitted an urgent amendment to Article 5
of the nonsmoking ban after it was obvious that applying the law has hurt the
tourism sector although Lebanon’s economy has suffered enough,” Zahra told
reporters at the Parliament.
“This amendment designates smoking sections as
well as ventilation systems in line with international standards, in addition
to banning people less than 18 years of age to enter places where smoking is
allowed,” Zahra added.
Zahra’s submission comes a day after the
tourism associations demanded the government amend the nonsmoking ban which
went into effect last month, saying the sector has been burdened with heavy
losses as a result.
“We are not calling to cancel the smoking ban
but [for a law] that takes our business into account,” Pierre Achkar, Head of
the Hotels Association, said during a news conference Tuesday, while the Head
of the Chambers of Commerce Mohammad Choucair asked the government to give
licenses for institutes specialized in nargileh.
On the day Law 174 went into effect, several
restaurants and nargileh cafes shut down in protest while a demonstration took
place in the Metn town of Antelias.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Zahra said his
proposed amendment also includes a means for the government to cover
expenditures, particularly the public sector’s salary scale hike.
“This amendment gives the state an additional
output via taxes on places where smoking is allowed,” he said.
According to Zahra’s proposal, Law 174 should
be amended in a way that would grant restaurants and hotels to choose whether
they want to have smoking sections or not.
If a hotel complies with the conditions for
having an isolated hall which won’t exceed 5 percent of the hotel’s space and
pays the necessary taxes to the government, it should be allowed to have a
smoking section, according to Zahra’s proposal.
He also announced that he
submitted two draft amendments that would cover the expense of the salary scale
hike via taxes on tobacco and imported alcohol.http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Oct-05/190199-zahra-proposes-amendments-to-smoking-ban.ashx#axzz2816QG51z
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