Health. “Smoking will be banned on beaches, in parks, near schools…” announces the Minister of Health.

The government will ban smoking in outdoor public places where children may be present, such as "beaches, public parks and gardens, around schools, bus shelters, and sports facilities," Minister Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by Ouest-France on its website.

"Where there are children, tobacco must disappear," the Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families said on Thursday, specifying that the ban will come into effect on July 1.

Failure to comply with the ban "could result in a class 4 fine, or 135 euros," says Catherine Vautrin, who believes that the freedom to smoke "ends where children's right to breathe clean air begins."

The minister indicated that the perimeter of the ban around schools will be specified in the implementing decree. "We are currently determining it with the Council of State, and we will trust elected officials to implement it pragmatically," continued Ms. Vautrin.

Middle and high schools are also affected by the ban, in particular to prevent "middle and high school students from smoking in front of their schools." However, the ban does not apply to café terraces or e-cigarettes.

The Minister of Health, on the other hand, wants to "lower the permitted nicotine level" in these products and "reduce the number of flavors."

"I need scientific and technical advice to determine the details" of these measures, which are expected to come into force "by the end of the first half of 2026," she explained.

The generalization of smoke-free spaces, as announced by Catherine Vautrin, is one of the measures set out in the National Tobacco Control Program (PNLT) 2023-2027, presented by the then Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau , with the ambition of "meeting the challenge of a generation free of tobacco by 2032."

Anti-smoking organizations were concerned that the government was not taking concrete action. Smoking causes 75,000 deaths each year.

According to a survey conducted by the League, six out of ten French people (62%) were in favor of a broader ban on smoking in public spaces.