The Danish parliament on 21 April adopted an amended tobacco control law, which further restricts smoking and increases the fines for breaking the law.

The amendments will ban smoking in education institutions for children and youths as well as in single-person offices, though there will be exceptions for company cars, trucks and cranes as long as there is only person present in the vehicle at the time.
Under the amendments fines for breaking the smoking ban and for selling tobacco to youths under 18 were also raised. In both cases a first offence will cost DKK 5,000 (EUR 672), a second DKK 10,000 and a third DKK 20,000.
Support for people wanting to quit was raised to include DKK 1.5 million for the marketing of the help line, Stoplinien.
The opposition party Venstre argued that the law is unnecessary. “We think that the current smoking laws are perfectly adequate and that there are far more important things to debate,” Venstre's health spokesperson, Sophie Løhde, said. “Citizens can think for themselves and don’t need detailed manuals from the government.”
Dansk Folkeparti (DF) were also vocal critics of the new smoking law, arguing that the ban on smoking in single-person offices is over-protective while schools are already good at introducing their own anti-smoking policies. (pi)