Parliament has challenged attempts to stop cafés and restaurants from serving sheesha to customers sitting inside their parked cars, insisting that the practice cannot be treated as a violation unless a clear legal prohibition is issued.
The issue was raised after café and restaurant owners complained that inspectors had been telling them they were breaching regulations by serving sheesha through car windows, with the pipe placed outside the vehicle.
Parliament’s financial and economic affairs committee chairman and Bahrain Chamber treasurer Ahmed Al Salloom claimed that the committee subsequently checked with the Industry and Commerce Ministry and was told that there are currently no commercial regulations expressly banning the practice.
He said that the legal position was straightforward: where no prohibition exists, businesses should not be penalised for providing a service covered by their commercial activities.
“An unregulated practice means there is no ban,” Mr Al Salloom said.
He added that legal advisers asked for an opinion by the committee had concluded that serving a sheesha to a customer in a car did not, by itself, constitute a commercial violation, provided the café was operating under a legitimate commercial registration and offering permitted services.
“If there is an official decision, it has to be published with its reasons in the Official Gazette,” he said.
Mr Al Salloom, who is also president of the Strategic Thinking Bloc and chairman of the Bahrain Small and Medium Enterprises Development Society and Better Life Society, said the same principle applied to other forms of business activity.
“People order sheeshas from cafés to their homes or swimming pools for gatherings, and this is allowed,” he said.
“The same applies to buying cigarettes and food for delivery.”
He said the legal consultation also noted that people could purchase cigarettes from groceries or cold stores and smoke them while sitting inside parked vehicles.
The opinion further pointed out that during the Covid-19 pandemic, sheesha smoking was permitted outdoors at cafés, while smoking inside establishments was prohibited.
“Smoking is a health hazard, so it is regulated by the 2009 Anti-Smoking Law and its executive regulations, but that law does not state how a smoking business should operate,” Mr Al Salloom said.
The committee was also told that regulations concerning distances from facilities and public areas had been cancelled in 2018.
Health authorities, according to the legal opinion, remain responsible for checking health-related requirements, including hygiene, ventilation, sheesha preparation and the cleanliness and suitability of accessories.
Municipal authorities could intervene if the practice amounted to an unauthorised occupation or encroachment of public space, but the legal opinion distinguished this from cafés serving customers in their own parking areas or on private property.
The General Directorates of Civil Defence and Traffic also have no specific prohibition, unless the activity creates a safety or traffic hazard.
Mr Al Salloom said government bodies should not create restrictions through inspection practices when no clear regulation exists.
“Any rule should be explained. The Commerce and Industry Ministry has stated there are no rules, while the Health Ministry has to prove that a practice creates a health hazard other than that known with smoking,” he said.
“That is not the case here.”
Capital Trustees Board chairman Saleh Tarradah backed the call for greater flexibility, warning against burdening small businesses with violations and fines without a clear legal basis.
“We want small and medium businesses to survive and thrive, not slap them with violations and fines,” Mr Tarradah said.
“Bahrain is a business-friendly country, and it will continue being so.”
He said intervention should focus on situations involving genuine harm, danger or obstruction.
“There should be flexibility when there is imminent harm or hazard. Smoking is not banned, and how it is done is also not banned,” he said.
Meanwhile, Layali Al Oruba Café owner Salah Ali, who has represented the concerns of affected cafés and restaurants, said operators had been left confused by conflicting instructions.
“We have been strictly ordered not to serve customers in cars,” Mr Ali said.
“When we ask for the written regulation, we are told to respect the instruction, but no clear rule has been shown to us.”
The dispute is not entirely new.
An Industry and Commerce Ministry notice published on its website in 2018 stated that eight cafés in Hamala had been warned over serving sheesha to customers in vehicles.
The latest parliamentary intervention, however, centres on whether such enforcement has a clear legal foundation today – and whether businesses can be penalised for an activity that has not been expressly prohibited.
The Industry and Commerce Ministry stated in writing that according to regulations and procedures sheesha services are only allowed in defined designated areas within the outlet itself.
However, no precise legal frameworks or any additional explanation reasoning it were provided by the ministry.
Should Parliament and the ministry continue to be in dispute without a clear path on the matter – Parliament could opt to have a ruling by the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission with the outcome being final and mandatory on all parties.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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