Spain pushes ahead with plans to ban smoking on bar terraces
PLANS to ban punters from lighting up cigarettes on bar terraces appear set to get the greenlight after the Spanish government approved a draft version of a new anti-smoking law.
Under the proposed legislation, smoking would be banned in enclosed public spaces and outdoor areas including bar and restaurant terraces, stadiums, children’s play areas, bus stops, sports centres, public swimming pools and university campuses.
The plan, signed off by prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s cabinet on Tuesday, would also treat electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products the same as conventional cigarettes.
Lawmakers supporting the proposals intend to ‘reinforce protections on people’s health and to adapt the law to consumption patterns and to the tobacco product market’, Spain’s health ministry said.
“This is about items whose consumption and market presence has grown substantially over recent years – especially among young people – and which, although they don’t always contain nicotine or tobacco, are linked to the act of smoking or inhaling, and which also increase the risk of smoking conventional tobacco,” the ministry added.
Earlier this summer, health minister Monica Garcia defended the draft law, telling SER Radio: “Restrictions are backed by scientific evidence, by international experience and by the recommendations from the European Union.
READ MORE: Survey finds locals in Spain support smoking bans and increased tobacco taxes
“In addition, they are backed by a majority of people including smokers, who ask us to be resolute against the scourge of tobacco.
“This measure responds to a focus on health equity, recognising that everyone has the right not to be exposed to smoke involuntarily.”
She added that the law intended to put Spain ‘back at the forefront of the fight against tobacco’, pointing to statistics that reveal over 50,000 tobacco-related deaths a year.
“We know that the reality has changed when it comes to tobacco and that there are new devices, such as vapes and tobacco-heating devices and nicotine pouches – and this law, for the first time, will regulate all these tobacco-related products, and it will regulate them in a clear and forceful way based on the scientific evidence,” she said.
However, the proposed legislation has already been watered down, with a proposal for generic, plain packaging for cigarettes dropped amid internal disagreements within the socialist-led minority government.
Price hikes have also been ruled out, with a pack of 20 cigarettes currently costing less than €6 – a third of the average price in the UK.
The u-turn was blasted by anti-smoking campaigners, who accused the cabinet of succumbing to the demands of the tobacco industry.
In a statement, the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT) said: “The government can’t yield to pressure from the tobacco industry and deprive Spanish society of a measure that’s taken root successfully in neighbouring countries and which helps to stop people starting smoking as teenagers.
READ MORE: Public health officials in Spain’s Catalunya push to ban smoking on beaches
“Plain packaging, which is already in use in more than 40 countries, eliminates design and marketing from packets, thus reducing the lure and attraction of tobacco.”
Others are leading the charge to go further.
Catalunya’s public health secretary, Esteve Fernandez, last month called for Madrid to introduce a ban on smoking at beaches.
“It should not be expected for a child to think it is normal to smoke on the beach as if it were similar to swimming or playing with a ball.”
Beaches in Barcelona, the Catalan capital, have been smoke-free since a local law was passed in 2022, but enforcement has been lax with no fines issued in its first year of implementation – even when one poll revealed over 70% of beachgoers had spotted cigarette butts in the sand.
Taking a drag is currently banned in a wide range of public spaces under current anti-smoking laws passed in 2005 and updated in 2010.
Lighting up in healthcare facilities, schools, public transport, indoor hospitality areas, workplaces, sports venues or shops would currently land you in hot water, with fines dished out varying from €30 to €600.
According to figures from the health ministry, 28.9% of men and 22.6% of women smoke on a daily basis in Spain.
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