BEIRUT: The syndicate of restaurant owners said Saturday that Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk supported their demand to relax a 2012 smoking ban.
After meeting with the minister, syndicate chief Tony al-Rami said that that Machnouk “expressed his agreement and support to the proposed amendment, because it protects the Lebanon and its cuisine.”
Rami did not specify what the amendment contains. But restaurant and pub owners have long fought against the law forbidding smoking inside enclosed spaces, complaining that it's bad for business.
MPs Nadim Gemayel and Samer Saadeh submitted a proposal to amend the law in September 2012. The proposal calls for exempting from the bill all restaurants and bars whose revenues rely mostly on cigars or shisha, and instead imposing on them an annual tax.