A sign of the times in Austria
The Austrian Supreme Court has ruled on when and where an individual is not allowed to smoke in his home, according to an RT TV/TV Novosti story quoting ‘Austrian media’.
From now on, the Viennese man, who was not named in the story, is not allowed to smoke on his balcony or with the windows open from 08.00 to 10.00, from noon to 15.00, and from 18.00 to 20.00 between May 1 and October 31.
From November 1 to April 30, he is not allowed to smoke from 08.00 to 09.00, from 13.00 to 14.00, and from 19.00 to 20.00.
Additionally, he is not allowed to smoke between 22.00 and 06.00 at any time of year.
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The case was brought by a university professor who complained about his neighbor one floor down in the apartment building where he lives.
In the past, the neighbor was apparently in the habit of smoking one or two cigars a day, either on his balcony in the summer, or inside with the windows open in the winter. The smoking took place mainly at night between the hours of midnight and 02.00, said the professor, who alleged that the smoke from the cigars disturbed him.
An initial ruling by the district court banned the cigar smoker from smoking on his balcony or with open windows, but the smoker appealed this ruling and he was granted the right to smoke between 22.00 and 06.00.
This ruling was, in turn, appealed by the professor.
The Supreme Court decided that while it could not ban the man from smoking at all, the complainant had to be able to use his balcony ‘without having to adapt to the incalculable smoking behavior of the defendant’.
There was no mention of how the smoking restrictions were to be policed or what sanctions might be applied to the smoker should he smoke at the wrong time.
Novosti reported that in January 2015, a similar decision was made by the Federal Court of Justice in Germany.
There, the court decided that tenants could be prohibited from smoking anything, not just cigars, in a given window of time. The prohibited time varies on a case-by-case basis.