BARCELONA, Spain -- Two couples hesitated outside La Garlana, a favorite cafe in the upscale Sarria district just off the Diagonal, an elegant avenue stretching across this city on the Mediterranean Sea.

"If we sit outside, maybe it will be a little chilly," said Mark Klimesh, a school headmaster. "Inside, we'll stink of cigarettes -- hair, socks, shoes, underwear, everything. Don't even hope to find a no-smoking restaurant in Spain."

Hopes are rising as this traditionally tobacco-friendly nation considers joining a rising number of countries -- from Algeria to Zambia -- where health concerns and public opinion are fostering "No Smoking" signs in bars, restaurants, outdoor cafes, office buildings, factories, sports stadiums, even beaches.

Following the lead of American trend-setters like New York City and California, legislators around the world are passing or considering laws to protect nonsmokers.

Working an 8-hour shift in a smoky bar is like smoking 16 cigarettes, international health officials say, citing a University of California at Berkeley study. The wait staff in the non-smoking section of a restaurant that permits smoking elsewhere involuntarily "smoke" a half pack of cigarettes each work shift.

"The tide is turning," said European Union Health Commissioner David Byrne at a briefing for reporters. "The future of Europe must be smoke-free. Countries face not just a public health, but also a moral, imperative to protect their workers from the dangers of second-hand smoke."

Ireland has been at the leading edge. In March, the Emerald Isle became the first country in the world to adopt a near-total ban on smoking in public places. Among the handful of exceptions are private homes, jail cells and wards in psychiatric hospitals.

"There is significant momentum building across Europe," said Michel Martin, Ireland's health minister, who shepherded the national ban on smoking.

A handful of other individual countries have adopted bans or expanded existing prohibitions to include bars and restaurants. In June, for instance, Norway extended a 1988 ban on smoking in public buildings and public transport to cover restaurants, nightclubs, and bars. Sweden's ban goes into effect in 2005.

The waves are even lapping countries like Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Scotland, which have some of Europe's highest smoking rates and smokiest eating places. All are considering new restrictions, said Kristina Mauer-Stender of the World Health Organization.

The movement toward smoke-free public places has assumed truly global dimensions.

About 170 countries have signed a landmark tobacco-control agreement called the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Adopted in 2003 by the World Health Organization, it requires countries to recognize passive smoking as a health hazard and adopt effective policies to protect people from second-hand smoke in workplaces and other areas.

Signatories include nations in Asia and Africa, in addition to western countries like Canada (where individual cities ban smoking in bars and restaurants) and New Zealand (which will ban smoking in bars and restaurants in December). Actual enforcement of smoking restrictions, however, ranges from strict to spotty to nonexistent.

Officials at the EU's Brussels headquarters are working on regulations that would create a Europe-wide ban on smoking in bars, cafes, restaurants, and other workplaces. The regulations also would safeguard the health of customers and eliminate the nuisance of smoke-tainted hair, skin and clothing. The regulations reportedly are part of a new tobacco-control strategy that EU health officials will unveil later in 2004.

Even tobacco companies in Europe now concede the basic principle behind restrictions on smoking in public places.

The United Kingdoms Tobacco Manufacturers' Association believes voluntary action will clear the air. UK governments, however, have put the tobacco and hospitality industries on notice that legal action is on the way.

Irish law now protects people against second-hand smoke in more than 200,000 workplaces. Smokers who defy the ban can face a fine of $3,500.

The law includes restaurants and those fabled Irish pubs. Smoky, beery, the haunts of literary greats like Brendan Behan and James Joyce, pubs are a part of Irish heritage. Hospitality industry opponents of the ban predicted it would tear down centuries of cultural tradition.

But Irish pubs, by all accounts, seem to be thriving, with the regulars still in attendance, and joined by new customers who rarely dropped in for a pint because of the smoke.

"It's not the smoke-filled rooms people come for," Ivor Callely, Ireland's deputy health minister told the British Broadcasting Company. "It's for the craic." Pronounced "crack," that Gaelic word means the good atmosphere -- the people, music, food and drinks.

"The bottom line is that the ban has worked," Martin said. "The fundamental rationale behind the ban is to protect the health of employees. This is about the right of the people to breathe fresh, clean air."