France to ban smoking at beaches, parks and outside schools to protect children

Paris, France - France plans to ban smoking on beaches, in parks, outside schools and in other locations from July to protect children, the government said.

The ban, which follows similar measures across an increasingly smoking-averse Europe, will exempt cafe outdoor terraces and will not apply to electronic cigarettes.

"Where there are children, tobacco must disappear," Health and Families Minister Catherine Vautrin said in an interview with the Ouest France newspaper late on Thursday.

"From July 1, beaches, public parks and gardens, school areas, bus shelters, and sports facilities will be smoke-free throughout France. Smoking will therefore be prohibited there, to protect our children."

Vautrin said smoking kills around 200 people every day in France.

Smoking in France is at historic lows, according to a report published this month by the French Observatory for Drugs and Addictive Trends. It found that just under a quarter of people aged 18-75 smoked daily, the lowest since it began keeping records in the late 1990s.

The UK announced a similar smoking ban last year. Some Spanish regions have banned smoking on beaches, while Sweden has outlawed smoking in outdoor restaurant terraces, bus stops, train platforms and schoolyards since 2019.

(Reporting by Gabriel StargardterEditing by Kate Mayberry and Frances Kerry)