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Balcony smoking in multi-apartment buildings shall be prohibited where opposed by at least one resident

Press release, 1 October 2020

 

The Seimas has amended the Law on Control of Tobacco, Tobacco Products and Related Products (draft No XIIIP-815(4)). Starting from 2021, the new provisions shall ban smoking in balconies, terraces, and loggias of multi-apartment buildings that belong to individual owners by the right of ownership, provided at least one of the residents of the building concerned objects to smoking.

 

Under the adopted amendments, either the Government or its authorised institution will lay down the procedure for implementing this legal provision. Information signs on the smoking ban in balconies, terraces and loggias of multi-apartment buildings will be put up by either administrators of the building in charge of property of shared use; associations of owners of multi-apartment residential buildings; or municipal executive bodies.

 

The amended Law will also ban smoking in enclosed public bus stops, children’s playgrounds, and catering facilities that provide outdoor service (including smoking at outdoor tables, covered seating areas, and other outdoor facilities), with the exception of designated smoking areas.

 

The amendments shall also prohibit smoking during outdoor sports competitions and other outdoor events, allowing smoking only in designated smoking areas.

 

The Law stipulates that building/apartment owners or any other natural persons who use the building/apartment and smoke inside must ensure that tobacco smoke enters neither the premises of another owner, i.e. another building or apartment, nor the premises of the same apartment.

 

At the request of an officer in charge of conducting investigations into administrative offences, the owner of the apartment/premises, or the holder of other rights in rem, will have to inform the said officer about the name, surname and address of the person who has smoked on the balcony, terrace, or loggia of the premises. Owners or holders of other rights in rem to buildings/apartments who refuse to disclose the information on the person who has smoked on the balcony, terrace, or loggia of the premises will be held liable under the procedure laid down in the Code of Administrative Offences.

 

The new provisions of the Law were adopted by 69 votes in favour, with 4 votes against and 7 abstentions.

 

 

Rimas Rudaitis, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]

 

 

   Last updated on 10/02/2020 13:29
   Monika Kutkaitytė