French Government Banning Most Outdoor Smoking
Starting on July 1, it will be illegal to smoke in most outdoor public spaces in France. The new, sweeping ban is taking aim at primary points of congregation in outdoor spaces, namely beaches, parks, sports facilities, bus stops, gardens and areas close to schools. While the legislation is targeted at young people and limiting their exposure to tobacco and nicotine products, e-cigarettes are not included as part of the ban and smoking on France’s famed café terraces will remain legal.
“Where there are children, tobacco must disappear,” said Health Minister Catherine Vautrin in an interview with Ouest-France, who said that she hopes to “denormalize tobacco” for young people, and seeks to achieve this aim by implementing a 135 euro (roughly $154) fine for smoking in the targeted public areas. The move comes during a time in which smoking levels have drastically decreased in France. According to The French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), tobacco sales in France dropped more than 11.5 percent last year.
As part of these new tobacco control measures, it appears that the French government is also aiming to restrict nicotine levels in tobacco and vaping products and introduce strict limits on vape flavors. These plans are said to go into effect roughly one year from now, but the actual makeup of the restrictions remains unclear. Health Minister Vautrin says the government needs “scientific and technical opinions to establish the details.” As of now, it's unsure how cigars will be impacted in this regard, if at all.
While the new ban is an official, nationwide decree, many local municipalities have already banned smoking in certain public spaces, especially at beaches. But the move at the national level represents a more formal anti-tobacco stance from the French government. A potential generational tobacco ban could loom ahead, which Vautrin didn’t rule out in her interview. While such a move may seem like a giant leap from banning smoking in public spaces where children tend to gather there are reasons to believe it could take place.
The U.K., for example, is in the midst of passing the Tobacco and Vapes bill, which is almost out of Parliament. The bill is far stricter, aiming to make it illegal, in perpetuity, for anyone born after January 1, 2009 to buy tobacco products, including cigars. But the proposal also includes more measures, such as plain packaging for all tobacco products, banning flavored vapes and banning outdoor smoking in certain places, such as playgrounds, outside schools and outside hospitals, while excluding areas outside pubs. The latter stipulation is virtually identical to the new law in France and is part of a larger effort aimed at creating “tobacco-free generations,” legislation that is appearing in more places around the world. New Zealand kicked things off in 2023, passing a nationwide generational tobacco ban, but the legislation was eventually repealed. And recently, state and local governing bodies in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the United States have begun proposing, and implementing, their own generational bans.
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