Tobacco: Terraces spared from the ban on smoking in public places, associations call for "going further"

Terraces spared. The decree banning smoking in public parks and gardens , on beaches, under bus shelters, near schools, stadiums, swimming pools and libraries, starting Sunday, June 29, does not apply to the open terraces of cafes and restaurants.

In November 2023, the then Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau , said he wanted to "take up the challenge of a generation free of tobacco by 2032", when he presented the National Tobacco Control Programme (PNLT) 2023-2027.

At the time, there was talk of banning smoking in several public spaces, such as beaches, public parks, forests, and the outdoor areas surrounding certain public places for collective use. However, terraces were not even mentioned.

Last February, the Minister Delegate for Health and Access to Healthcare, Yannick Neuder, assured Sud Radio that he was "neither for nor against" the ban on smoking on terraces.

"It's part of the discussions. We need measures that are acceptable, compatible with everyone," he added on this subject, before affirming: "Let's stop bothering the French," thus defending smokers.

These comments were quickly condemned by the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT), which considered them "unworthy of a cardiologist, and, a fortiori, of a Minister of Health", while the European Commission recommended at the end of 2024 that Member States extend the smoking ban, particularly to café terraces.

A few months later, the current Health Minister, Catherine Vautrin, announced to Ouest France at the end of May that the tobacco ban would be extended to July 1st, and that it would ultimately come into effect on June 29th. She confirmed once again that this ban "does not affect café terraces."

"We focus on places where there are a lot of children," she explains.

"We are not here to give moral lessons, but to provide prevention," added the minister, echoing Yannick Neuder's argument.

This decision to spare terraces is, however, regretted by several anti-smoking associations. The ban, which allows for the "denormalization" of tobacco use in public spaces, "is a step in the right direction, but remains insufficient," Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT), told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The minister is relying on child protection," but children "also go out onto terraces," the pulmonologist emphasizes.

A speech already made by the president of the Alliance Against Tobacco, Loïc Josseran, at the end of May on RMC, following the announcements made by Catherine Vautrin. The legislator could have "gone a little further, particularly by visiting café terraces," which are "veritable aquariums of smoke and smokers," he argued.

"We are faced with a real lobby of tobacco manufacturers who are working through café and restaurant owners," he said, noting that "a good number of these restaurant and bar owners are also tobacconists" and that the government "probably did not want to engage in a standoff" with this profession.

Especially since terraces are considered a place where passive smoking is particularly high, according to Public Health France. "Passive smoking, while more toxic in a closed environment, is also particularly toxic in an open environment, particularly in covered areas (terraces, awnings, etc.)," ​​the organization reminds us in a brochure dedicated to the subject.

The association Demain non fumeurs also regrets that the smoking ban does not apply to terraces, denouncing this as "pressure from restaurant unions."

"Many professionals fear that a ban on smoking on terraces will drive away customers," the organization laments, insisting that this is just a preconceived idea.

In fact, the latest annual "Smoke-Free Places" survey , conducted by OpinionWay for the association Demain non fumeurs, reports that 84% of respondents "want to no longer be exposed to tobacco smoke in places such as café and restaurant terraces," citing a "nuisance" or "discomfort."

Terraces are thus at the top of the list of places most often cited where the French no longer wish to be exposed to tobacco smoke, ahead of queues, beaches or leisure areas, while the places where smoking is permitted have been constantly restricted for 50 years and the ban has been in force in certain foreign countries such as Sweden for years.

For Franck Delvau, president of the Umih (Union of Hotel Trades and Industries) of Île-de-France, banning smoking on terraces would not be the solution. According to him, it would only shift the problem because "people on terraces would go and smoke next to the establishments."

"Smokers and non-smokers can coexist" on terraces, the "last places of conviviality and freedom," also maintains Franck Trouet, general delegate of the French Hotel and Restaurant Association (GHR).

Furthermore, the CNCT regrets the absence from the text of electronic cigarettes, whose flavors are used to "hook young people," even though they are targeted by the decree. However, "for a measure to be effective, it must be clear: no consumption of products containing tobacco or nicotine in public," Yves Martinet insists.

In France, smoking causes 75,000 deaths per year, while passive exposure to tobacco smoke causes 3,000 to 5,000 deaths each year, according to official figures. Less than a quarter of adults aged 18 to 75 reported smoking daily in 2023, the OFDT observed.