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A smoky and hazy issue seems to be unfolding between the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish initials: MSP) and the Chamber of Hotels in Costa Rica. Chamber members are fuming because they consider that the MSP is misinterpreting the Anti-Tobacco Control Law #9028, which has been a source of discontent with regard to its interpretation, implementation and enforcement over the last couple of years.

The hoteliers represent a powerful sector of the lucrative tourism industry in Costa Rica, and they feel as if the MSP is putting up a smokescreen with regard to the consumption of tobacco products within the private confines that exist behind the locked doors of hotel rooms in our country.

The problem with the rulemaking that accompanies the Anti-Tobacco Control Law in Costa Rica is that it simply does not mention hotels. Nydia Amador, the coordinator of the Tobacco Control program within the MSP, was interviewed by news radio station Monumental 93.5 FM, and she stated the following:

“There is no misinterpretation or confusion. The law is clear with regard to the spaces that must be kept free from tobacco use. Neither does the law allow the creation of smoking areas; those disappeared when the old law was repealed and the new one came into effect. The law prohibits smoking in workplaces, and that is what a hotel is.”

The Chamber of Hotels may present a legal complaint against the MSP, to be heard before the Administrative Tribunal, which is a court division in Costa Rica that gets to rule on some of the cloudiest and most nebulous issues related to spotty legislation and deficient rulemaking in Costa Rica.

If, in fact, hotel rooms have been left out of the rulemaking related to Law #9028, guests should not be subject to the penalties assessed for smoking in restricted areas; however, this does not mean that they can smoke freely in their rooms. In Costa Rica, most hoteliers have chosen to turn their properties into smoke-free buildings, but others allow guests to smoke in their rooms based on the murky rulemaking to this effect. In any case, legislation supersedes rulemaking in Costa Rica.