He explained how the ban on smoking will work on the balconies of apartment buildings: there are three paths

Give a jump tool

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, President of the Liberal Movement Delphi He argued that this change is simply a tool for one person to jump over dozens of neighbors. He voted against the proposal at the adoption stage.

“The great shortcoming of this project is that we give each and every one of the people in conflict in the huge community of the house a tool to submit applications and complain about the neighbors. And under this bill and it is possible to do so. One person will be able to dictate, jump to a hundred people ”, commented the liberal about the situation.

The Seimas member agreed that the problem existed, but needed to be addressed by other means. It also lacks the principle of equality.

“Laws are passed for all residents and must be as equal and equal as possible. And in this case, it is obvious that having your own home does not cause such problems. In terms of implementation, we see a lot of problems. And this would burden the police with insignificant things “, assured the leader of the Liberal Movement V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.

The parliamentarian said that liberals did not support the adoption of this project not because they did not want to make life easier for pregnant women and young children, but because of the algorithms of its operation.

“On paper, they look the same, but they will actually cause more problems than they solve,” he said.

Valdas Benkunskas, deputy mayor of Vilnius, a member of the Union of the Fatherland – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), critically evaluated the Seimas decision on Facebook.

“I would also suggest a law that there should be peace in the world. There are around 8.5k apartment buildings in Vilnius, so we are talking about at least 85k balconies, that is, individual cases that will have to be controlled by the police and / or the municipality. But, how do the initiators of the law keep silent? Does anyone imagine what administrative burden creates a decision of this type? “He asked on the social network.

“If this nonsense goes into effect, we will have even more conflict, complaints and dissatisfaction from our neighbors because someone did not provide something for some reason,” V. Benkunskas wrote on Facebook.

Police are only involved in emergencies

Ramūnas Matonis, Head of the Communications Department of the Police Department, stated that according to this amendment to the law, the police would be involved in such conflicts only in case of emergency.

“The idea is that the neighbors solve their problems first, and if they do not agree, the municipality and the police only intervene in exceptional cases.” Delphi he said.

In evaluating the new order in the Seimas Chamber, Interior Minister Rita Tamašunienė also stated that officials would only intervene in critical cases.

“The bill has been coordinated for a long time, officials agreed when the police will intervene. Because in the first stage, the community of origin will grant or not a smoking permit. There will be a house where it will be possible to smoke, I hope, and it will be prohibited where a person abuses ”, commented the minister.

He said that in the case of others, the strength of officials simply would not be enough.

“For all the functions of the civil servants, which only grow every day, we do not have as much force. The main functions that our officials must carry out and additionally charged with new ones ”, said the Minister at the government hour held in the Seimas.

3 paths

Representative of LVŽS and one of the promoters of the reform to this law, the parliamentarian T. Tomilinas Delphi He explained how this change would work as of December 31 of this year.

“The police will not be needed in 9 out of 10 cases,” he explained.

The algorithm will definitely start working after the Seimas bless one of the accompanying legal acts: the amendment of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

According to the parliamentarian, there are three levels of how to solve this problem.

“If someone has this problem, they should contact their neighbor, be good, there is a law, do not smoke. I think that this will end the vast majority of conflicts, because now there is no law. If this does not happen, there is a second step: write to the municipality. And the municipality will announce the procedures to do so: perhaps electronically, perhaps in the neighborhood. Then the municipality will force the administrator of the house, the community to inform the neighbors of the house that there is a problem in this house ”, explained the parliamentarian to the mechanism.

After this notification, a notice must be placed at the entrance of the house within 15 days, all residents must be notified electronically and then the ban on smoking in this house will take effect.

And when there are already official signs that the provisions of the Tobacco Law have come into force and smoking is not allowed. After this case, we will have conflicts to a minimum. Because not only does a neighbor write by hand on a sheet of paper and ask not to smoke, but also the administration of the house. Of course it will work, because our people have seen the official order and in theory there are still fines, he is a sane person who will start with the police ”, said the parliamentarian.

Still, T. Tomilin acknowledged that such cases could occur.

“But there will be many less,” said the politician.

A representative from LVŽS explained that there will definitely be no cases where a police officer walks down the street, sees a person smoking on the balcony and comes to punish him.

“You have to find out if this regulation applies in that house. There will certainly be no spontaneous police interference in people’s lives.” Delphi Tomililin said.

The parliamentarian said that municipalities that play an important role in this process should also be assisted by the ministry in negotiations on more funding for them.

“It is the duty of the municipality to take care of what matters to the people. (…) We will try to continue the dialogue with the municipalities, asking the Ministry of Health (SAM) for the greatest possible assistance, as well as taking these burdens into account in the budget negotiations. But it really meets the expectations of the population, ”emphasized the politician.

Delphi According to the interlocutor, the system of violation of this law would be similar to speeding, the least possible participation of people.

Mr Tomilin did not want to comment on the specific amounts of the fine for breach of this prohibition, as such a decision had not yet been taken.

The amount of the fine mentioned in the last reading was between 90 and 150 euros. However, it has yet to be decided.

You must ensure that the smoke does not irritate the neighbors

The adopted bill also establishes that “the owner of a building (apartment) or another natural person who uses the building (apartment) and smokes in it must ensure that tobacco smoke does not enter the premises of the building (apartment) from another owner and in the same apartment. local “. What do you say Delphi interlocutor, smoking is not prohibited in the apartments.

“Here it means that if there is fog in the house, then the first prevention is your home. (…) Many people will not smoke at home because their housekeepers will object. However, if a person smokes at home, they have a duty to ensure that the smoke from their apartment does not enter others. If the ventilation system works well, people have been smoking in the bathrooms for decades and there is no problem, “he explained.

“But if the ventilation does not work, it is a problem for the manager and the apartment owner to fix that ventilation,” Tomilin said.

So that we can smoke in our house, if it does not disturb the neighbors, there is a ventilation system that works properly.

Strictly prohibited by Latvia only

Latvia has also introduced a ban on smoking on balconies. As early as 2013, Latvia banned smoking on balconies, stairways, hallways and other common areas of apartments and public buildings. There is a practice that when at least one of the residents of an apartment building has filed a complaint against a smoker, smoking is prohibited on the balconies of that house.

The ban on smoking on apartment building balconies a year ago was also blessed by Russia for renewing fire safety requirements by banning open fires. But smoking non-flammable tobacco products was not prohibited. This amendment was intended to increase the safety culture.

And in Finland, the home community decides to smoke on the balconies if it is not guaranteed that the smoke does not enter the neighboring area.

Nausėda has yet to confirm

We remind you that on Thursday the Seimas adopted amendments to the Tobacco Control Law that prohibits smoking on balconies, terraces, loggias of apartment buildings when at least one resident opposes smoking, outdoor cafes, common premises, bus stops Covered public transport, playgrounds, except smoking areas. places.

By law, apartment residents must in any case ensure that tobacco smoke does not enter the premises of a neighbor.

The owner of the premises is obliged to provide the official with the data (name, surname and residence address) of the person who smoked on the balcony, terrace, loggia of the apartment or room. If he refused to do so, the owner would face a fine.

President Gitanas Nausėda has not yet made a decision on the ban adopted by the Seimas.