France would ban smoking in all outdoor places that children could access – including beaches, parks and bus stops, the Minister of Health and Family announced on Thursday.
Famous as a country where smokers linger over cigarettes on café terraces or strolling down cobbled streets, France increasingly tightened restrictions on tobacco use in public spaces in recent years.
The new ban – which would come into force on July 1 – would cover all spaces where children could be present, including “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside schools, bus stops and sports sites,” said minister Catherine Vautrin.
“Tobacco has to disappear where there are children,” Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France Daily on his site.
The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts,” she said.
The ban will also expand to schools to stop students smoking in front of them.
Criminals are facing a fine of up to 135 euros, Vautrin said.
Cafe Terraces Escape Ban
However, the ban would not expand to France’s iconic café terraces, the minister said.
Electronic cigarettes – which jumped in France in recent years – were also not covered.
France already banned smoking in public spaces such as workplaces, airports train stations and playgrounds.
Anti-smoking groups had fought for a wider ban.
Estimated 35% of France’s population are smokers – higher than the average for Europe [25%] And the world [21%]According to the World Health Organization.
About 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco -related complications every year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62%) favor smoking in public places.
Tobacco -free generation
The government’s national anti-tobacco program for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban similar to what was announced by Vautrin, calling France “rising to the challenge with a tobacco-free generation from 2032”.
But anti-tobacco organizations had expressed concern that the authorities were taking their feet to implement the measures.
More than 1,500 cities and villages had already imposed their own ban on smoking in public spaces such as parks, beaches and ski slopes.
Vautrin said there were no plans to place additional taxes on cigarettes “at the moment”, citing the flowering black market that occurred after existing taxes was introduced in an attempt to deter smoking.
