Czechs rethink ban

Eighty-six deputies from eight parties in the Czech Republic’s lower house have put their signatures to a proposal to loosen a ban on tobacco smoking at Czech pubs, restaurants and some other facilities, according to a Radio Prague story.
The ban was introduced last year.
The amendment, proposed by Marek Benda of the Civic Democrats, envisages the creation within these venues of separate smoking areas with their own ventilation systems.
Benda’s proposal would allow bars with an area of 80 square meters or smaller to decide themselves whether to allow smoking or not.
The smoking ban came in at the end of May, bringing the Czech Republic into line with many other EU states.