The Spanish Ministry of Health wants to ban smoking in private cars, expand smoke-free spaces to the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants and equate electronic cigarettes with tobacco for public health purposes, applying the same prohibitions as traditional cigarettes.
The Ministry of Health has just submitted the draft Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025 to the regional governments (comunidades autonomas) and scientific organizations to make their allegations.
The text proposes a long list of measures, from smoking bans in public and private places (such as private cars and terraces) to tax increases on tobacco-related products and more limits on tobacco advertising on social networks.
Throughout its more than one hundred pages, the draft of the plan endorses the objectives of the World Health Organization (WHO) of achieving a relative reduction of 30% in tobacco consumption by 2025.
In the case of Spain, that would mean reducing the percentage of daily smokers to 18.4% in 2025 compared to the current 19.8%.
To achieve this, the plan foresees the reform of Law 28/2005 7 and Royal Decree 579/20178, the basic Spanish regulations on smoking.
The measures
The proposed changes are intended to slow the expansion of new smoking-related products such as e-cigarettes and to expand smoke-free spaces. For this, it is proposed to prohibit smoking also on the outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants.
It is also proposed to implement other measures already tested in other European countries, such as the generic packaging of cigarette packs.
In addition, taxes on tobacco products will be raised to raise them and a special tax will be established on electronic cigarettes. The plan also tries to put an end to the covert advertising of both these devices and tobacco in general through social networks.
Along with these measures, the plan wants to promote the development of regulations at the municipal level to prohibit the throwing of cigarette butts on the streets and public roads.
