The Government is taking a new step in its anti-smoking strategy.
Health Minister Mónica García continues her ongoing war on tobacco. She has now announced a new set of bans that will affect places as diverse as delivery vans, university campuses, and and outdoor leisure areas such as outdoor party venues
The new regulations, which are in addition to those already in place for bus shelters and terraces, will extend the ban on smoking to areas that until now remained unrestricted. Among the affected areas are school playgrounds, university campuses, sports facilities, community swimming pools, and bus stops with bus shelters.
The law proposes to include regulations on the use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco devices, which will be legally equated with conventional tobacco in terms of restrictions on use in public spaces, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. The Royal Decree implementing this regulation has now been submitted to the European framework for evaluation and comment.
The regulations will also affect work vehicles such as delivery vans, a measure that could generate conflicts in the workplace and raises questions about its practical application and control.
For the moment, the Ministry has not set a specific date for the new restrictions to come into effect, creating uncertainty both in the hospitality industry and among smokers themselves, who are seeing the spaces where they can smoke progressively reduced.
