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Government has refused to grant exemptions to bars which applied to opt out of the smoking ban which comes into full effect on Sunday. Smokers caught lighting up in public face fines of up to $250 while employers can be fined $1,000. Although the law was passed early this year, the six-month grace period on applying fines ends at 12 a.m. on Sunday. Asked if officers were ready to monitor the clampdown, Police spokesman Dwayne Caines said: "The Bermuda Police Service enforces whatever the law is."
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A smoking ban in Bermuda's bars and restaurants began on Saturday with drinkers who sneak an illegal puff eventually facing fines of $250 (144 pounds).
The ban also covers shops and other enclosed public places in the mid-Atlantic British territory, although there will be no prosecutions until October because of a six-month grace period to allow people to get used to the new law.
Smoking in public places will be banned in Bermuda from next year after senators followed the lead of Members of Parliament in the House of Assembly and unanimously approved tough new tobacco laws.
The new legislation, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, will make it an offence to light up in bars, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, offices and schools across the island.
It will also see cigarette vending machines banned along with tobacco advertising at sporting events and will make it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18.
Bermuda is on course to join a growing number of countries around the world that have outlawed smoking in all enclosed public places – be they hotels, bars, restaurants, places of work or shops and theatres. An Island-wide smoking ban in enclosed public places will now become the law of the land in 2006 if it is approved by the Senate following its acceptance by MPs in the House of Assembly yesterday. Senators are expected to discuss the ban when they meet next week. Making a case for the strict ban, Health Minister Patrice Minors referred to a raft of statistics and research that pointed to tobacco use being the second biggest killer of people in the world.
Smokers may soon be banned from lighting up in any enclosed public space in Bermuda, be that a bar, restaurant, hotel, workplace, or even a company car.
A proposed blanket ban has moved a step closer and will put Bermuda on to a growing list of of places around the world where no-smoking rules have either come into force or are in the process of being introduced.
Bans on smoking in enclosed public places, aimed at improving public health, already exist in Italy, Ireland and New York.
In new rules outlined in a White Paper that has gone before the House of Assembly, cigarette vending machines are to be outlawed and cigarettes and other tobacco products must not be sold to anyone under the age of 18.