PORTUGUESE GOVERNMENT PLANS TO BAN SMOKING IN MOST PUBLIC PLACES, RESTRICT THE SALE OF TOBACCO

Sat 13 May 2023:

Portugal’s government introduced legislation on Thursday to expand a smoking prohibition to outdoor locations, including covered terraces, and to restrict tobacco sales, with the goal of raising a smoke-free generation by 2040.

“With this amendment, we will start today to protect the adults of tomorrow,” Health Minister Manuel Pizarro said at a press conference, dismissing accusations from some business groups that the restrictions are excessively harsh and discriminatory.

“We propose extending the ban on smoking outdoors within the perimeter of public access or collective use areas – above all in spaces where the most vulnerable people are present,” Pizarro said.

If approved by parliament, where the ruling Socialists have a majority, smoking next to public buildings such as schools, universities, hospitals or sports venues, outside restaurants, bars and coffee shops will be banned from Oct. 23.

The law would also ban the sale of tobacco products in bars, cafes, restaurants and petrol stations from 2025, meaning such products could be bought only from licensed tobacconists, airport shops or from vending machines that would have to be at least 300 metres from schools and other educational facilities.

From 2025, only licensed tobacconists and airport shops will be allowed to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, meaning that vending machines, bars, restaurants and petrol stations will no longer be allowed to offer them.

Portugal is also altering the law to equate heated tobacco products to regular tobacco in accordance with a European Union directive. Flavored hot tobacco will be restricted from sale.

According to Daniel Serra, the head of the PRO.VAR restaurant group, the regulations are taking away a source of cash from often struggling small enterprises. The concept was deemed unfair and unreasonable by the national association of fuel dealers, which operates gas stations.

A pack of cigarettes in Portugal costs around 5 euros ($5.50) – one of the lowest prices in western Europe. Some argue the government should instead raise the tobacco tax, but Pizarro said that was not a priority as prices beyond certain level would simply encourage smuggling.

According to the government, tobacco use is responsible for around two-thirds of smoking deaths, and smokers live 10 years less than nonsmokers on average. Tobacco is predicted to have caused approximately 13,500 fatalities in Portugal, which has a population of around 10 million people, in 2019.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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