It's
Butts
Out
In
Costa
Rica!
In a
vote
of
45
legislators
in
favour
and
2
against,
Costa
Rica
now
bans
smoking
in
places
like
the
workplace,
restaurants,
casinos,
bars
and
bus
terminals
and
creates
a
new
˘20
colones
per
cigarette
tax.
Legislators,
in
anticipation
of a
notice
by
the
Constitutional
Court
to
stop
the
process,
managed
to
hold
the
vote
to
pass
the
Ley
General
de
Control
del
Tabaco
(antismoking
law)
in
second
and
final
vote.
For
the
law
to
go
into
effect
it
must
first
be
sanctioned
by
presidenta
Laura
Chinchilla
and
be
published
in
the
official
government
publication,
La
Gacetta.
The
vote
came
at
4:15pm
Monday,
exactly
a
week
after
the
first
vote
of
approval.
Some
40
minutes
earlier
a
group
of
ten
legislators
of
the
Movimiento
Libertario,
Liberación
Nacional
(PLN)
and
the
Unidad
Social
Cristiana
(PUSC)
has
sent
a
draft
of
the
bill
to
the
Constitutional
Court
for
consultation.
The
action
would
have
stopped
the
voting
and
stalled
the
project
for
weeks
or
months
or
more
as
the
Court
clarified
the
constitutionality
of
the
law.
However,
at
the
time
of
the
vote,
the
notice
of
the
Constitutional
Court
consultation
had
not
reached
the
Legislature.
voting
against
the
bill
was
Ernesto
Chavarria
and
Marielos
Alfaro,
both
of
the
Movimiento
Libertario
party.
Once
the
law
is
published
in
La
Gaceta,
the
law
in
effect
requires
that
50%
of
each
cigarette
pack
be
covered
with
the
harmful
effects
of
smoking.
In
addition,
to
banning
cigarette
smoking
in
public
places,
cigarettes
cannot
be
sold
individually
and
anyone
who
does
is
subject
to a
fine
of
˘180.000
colones
(us$355
dollars).
Juan
Carlos
Mendoza,
president
of
the
Legislative
Assembly,
said
he
had
informally
that
some
legislators
were
in
the
process
of
sending
a
consult
to
the
Court,
however,
no
one
took
to
the
floor
for
debate
and
to
stretch
out
the
proceedings.
"If
they
had
wanted,
they
could
have
asked
for
time
on
the
floor",
said
Mendoza.
The
effect
of
the
new
law,
however,
won't
be
felt
until
at
least
June
when
the
government
will
have
published
its
"reglamentos"
(regulations)
to
the
law.
The
law
requires
the
government
to
produce
"normativas"
within
90
days.
The
time
will
also
serve
for
manufacturers,
distributors,
marketers
and
bars
and
restaurants,
etc,
to
adapt
to
the
new
law.
