The Spanish government is set to introduce legislation prohibiting smoking in a wide range of outdoor public spaces, from beaches and sports stadiums to bus stops, the terraces of bars and restaurants, as well as children’s play areas and educational facilities.
The restrictions would cover both traditional tobacco products and electronic alternatives such as vapes and e-cigarettes, which have surged in popularity among younger generations.
The legislation, signed off by the cabinet, is intended to ‘reinforce protections on people’s health and to adapt the law to consumption patterns and to the tobacco-product market’, according to the health ministry.
‘We’ll always put public health ahead of private interests,’ Health Minister Mónica García said during a press briefing. ‘Everyone has a right to breathe clean air … and live longer and better lives.’
She stressed that more than 50,000 Spaniards — roughly 137 people every day — die from smoking-related illnesses.
‘I also want to stress that 30% of cancer tumours are linked to the factors that come from tobacco use,’ García said. ‘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.’
Critics in the hospitality industry have pushed back against the plan, arguing that terraces – used year-round by customers across Spain – remain a haven for smokers. Spain has already prohibited smoking inside public venues since 2011.
The proposal mirrors measures adopted in France earlier this summer, though Paris stopped short of including café terraces and e-cigarettes in its restrictions.
The proposed bill still needs to pass through the Spanish Congress, where amendments are likely. With Spain’s fractured legislature, the government has struggled to push through new laws in recent months.
Notably, the text signed off by Spain’s cabinet does not include a requirement for plain cigarette packaging, a measure already adopted in 25 other countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nor does it propose any price hikes in a country where a pack of 20 cigarettes costs less than €6.