An antismoking law and the precise implementation of the relevant provisions cannot guarantee the observance of the rights of nonsmokers. This can be said by the passengers who come to Chisinau by plane and decide to travel to the city by public transport. The trolleybuses running on route No. 30, which is the only one that reaches the Chisinau International Airport, stop near the place where smoking is allowed in front of the terminal. The passengers can choose between waiting for the trolleybus standing further from the place where the trolleybus stops or sitting down at the stop and inhaling cigarette smoke. The law is not violated, said representatives of the airport. This fact was confirmed by experts who monitor the implementation of the antismoking law, but these said that there is also common sense beyond the law.
Contacted by IPN for a comment, Ghenadie Țurcanu, programs coordinator at the Center for Health Policies and Studies, said the place where the trolleybuses stop or the smoking place wasn’t chosen appropriately. The law bans smoking under the roof of public transport stations. If there is no roofed station, the law is theoretically not violated even if they smoke in that area, but there is also the common sense. The airport’s administration and the Public Transport and Communications Division should examine this situation and should relocate the trolleybus stop or the smoking place.
The administration of the Chisinau International Airport said the law allows setting up smoking places 10 meters from entrances to enclosed public places. In the case of the airport, this distance is longer. Spokeswoman for the airport Rodica Rusu said the situation is clear as the legislation is obeyed and the rights of both smokers and nonsmokers are not violated. The airport’s administration received many complaints about the absence of smoking places and had to ensure the rights of smokers are also respected. The presence of garbage bins does not mean that the area is intended for smoking. The smoking persons can decide whether to smoke near this bin or not, but they can smoke there. They cannot smoke near the station and there is a sign warning that smoking there is banned.
“It should be determined if the distance from the unit of transport or the place where passengers stay causes inconvenience. The public transport stations are not managed by the Electric Transport Company. We make sure the trolleybuses run on routes and transport passages, but the stops are managed by the Public Transport and Communications Division. We will see if discomfort is created there,” said the director of the Chisinau Electric Transport Company Dorin Chernyi.
Officials of the Public Transport and Communications Division said the airport’s administration asked to set up a public transport station without a roof in that place. If they smoke in the area and discomfort is caused, the airport’s administration will be requested to relocate the smoking place.
In accordance with the law on tobacco control that was approved in 2015, smoking in all the enclosed and semi-enclosed public places, including common places, at workplaces, regardless of the type of ownership and the method of access, is banned
