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France will ban smoking in all outside locations that may be accessed by kids, together with seashores, parks and bus stops, the well being and household minister introduced Thursday.
Famed as a rustic the place people who smoke linger over cigarettes on cafe terraces or strolling down cobblestone streets, France has more and more tightened restrictions on tobacco use in public areas lately.
The brand new ban, which can enter into pressure on July 1, will cowl all areas the place kids might be current, together with “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues,” mentioned the minister Catherine Vautrin.
“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Vautrin mentioned in an interview printed by the regional Ouest-France every day on its web site.
The liberty to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts,” she mentioned.
The ban will even lengthen to colleges, to cease college students smoking in entrance of them.
Offenders face a high-quality of as much as 135 euros ($154), Vautrin mentioned.
Cafe terraces escape ban
The ban won’t lengthen to France’s iconic cafe terraces nonetheless, the minister mentioned.
Digital cigarettes, which have boomed in France lately, are additionally not lined.
France already forbids smoking in public areas corresponding to workplaces, airports and practice stations, in addition to playgrounds.
Anti-smoking teams had been preventing for a broader ban.
An estimated 35% of France’s inhabitants are people who smoke—greater than the averages for Europe (25 p.c) and the world (21 p.c), in line with the World Well being Group.
Round 75,000 individuals are estimated to die from tobacco-related issues annually in France.
Based on a latest opinion survey, six out of 10 French individuals (62%) favor banning smoking in public locations.
‘Tobacco-free era’
The federal government’s Nationwide Anti-Tobacco Program for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban just like the one introduced by Vautrin, calling France to “rise to the challenge of a tobacco-free generation from 2032”.
However anti-tobacco organizations had voiced concern the authorities have been dragging their ft on implementing the measures.
Greater than 1,500 cities and villages had already imposed their very own bans on smoking in public areas corresponding to parks, seashores and ski slopes.
Vautrin mentioned there have been no plans to put extra taxes on cigarettes “at the moment,” citing the thriving black market that emerged after present taxes have been launched in a bid to discourage smoking.
© 2025 AFP
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France to ban smoking outdoor in most locations (2025, Could 29)
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