Great News For American Tourists:
There is no more smoking in bars, restaurants and nightclubs (“lieux de convivialité”) in France!
As of January 1, 2008 “la loi sur le tabac” was put into effect. Smokers seemed to respect the law, many even saying they were relieved to be able to eat out without breathing smoke. Some smoked here and there, either because they forgot or because they were testing the law’s application, but no fines were given the first day.
Of course, both eatery owners and individual clients would have to pay fines for disobeying the law, owners, from 135-750 Euros and clients from 68 to 450 Euros. (One Euro is about $1.50 this January.)
Smokers had to restort to the streets, sometimes suffering from the cold.
It wasn’t clear how the law would affect smoking on the famous French “terrasses.” It turns out that, if they are enclosed, there is no smoking there either.
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