22:00 ET, 10 Jun 2025<\/p>\n
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France’s new law will begin on July 1(Image: Lord Henri Voton\/E+\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Anyone visiting France this summer should be aware of a new law taking effect in just a few weeks, as failure to comply with the regulation could result in a hefty fine from local authorities.<\/p>\n
From July 1, a comprehensive smoking ban will be implemented in France, covering public areas such as beaches, parks, gardens, school zones, bus stops, and sports venues. This initiative has been approved in an effort to reduce the impact of smoking on children’s health.<\/p>\n
Smoking is a widespread habit in France, with approximately 16.4 million people over 15 years old reported to be using tobacco products, according to Global Action to End Smoking. Catherine Vautrin, France’s health minister who is leading the changes, told the French newspaper Ouest-France: “Tobacco must disappear where there are children.”<\/p>\n
Anyone caught breaching the new rules will be fined \u20ac135 ($154). According to Ms Vautrin, although police will enforce the ban, the public will also be given the opportunity to “self-regulate.”<\/p>\n
The French government plans to strictly enforce the new regulations through signage and awareness campaigns to encourage cooperation from citizens. This ban is an extension of the existing smoking laws in France, which have prohibited smoking in restaurants and nightclubs since 2008.<\/p>\n
![\"Close-up](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_GettyImages-1460528599-generic-smoking-image.jpg\")
It will soon be illegal to smoke in beaches, parks and public gardens(Image: Ho Ming Law\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Here in the US<\/a>, 28 states including New York, California<\/a>, and Hawaii, along with Washington DC<\/a>, have enacted laws that ban smoking cigarettes indoors at workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Four states \u2014 Florida<\/a>, Indiana, Louisiana, and Nevada \u2014 have outlawed smoking in workplaces and restaurants but not in bars, while North Carolina has a no-smoking rule for bars and restaurants only.<\/p>\n Moreover, 20 states have legislation in place that prohibits individuals from using e-cigarettes<\/a> and vapes indoors at workplaces, restaurants, and bars.<\/p>\n The CDC reported that exposure to second-hand smoke results in more than 41,000 deaths among non-smoking adults annually and an estimated $5.6 billion in lost company productivity each year. The American Lung Association<\/a> also noted that the number of smokers in the US decreased by 26 per cent from 2009 to 2019, but conceded that 91 per cent of this decline was attributed to non-menthol cigarettes.<\/p>\n Currently, people in France are still permitted to smoke in outdoor sections of cafes and on bar terraces. However, this exemption does not extend to e-cigarettes or vapes, although France is reportedly planning to tighten vaping regulations soon.<\/p>\n Travelers who wish to smoke can find comfort in hotels that allocate some rooms for smokers. But be aware – according to the travel blog French Riviera Traveller, if you don’t specify your preference, you’ll automatically be assigned a non-smoking room.<\/p>\n As reported by the BBC, statistics from the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction revealed that almost a quarter (23.1 per cent) of the French population smoke every day. The National Committee Against Smoking in France highlighted that tobacco-related diseases result in more than 75,000 deaths each year, making up 13 per cent of all fatalities, according to Wales Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Moreover, a recent poll conducted by the French cancer association La Ligue Contre le Cancer showed nearly 80 per cent of the French populace are in favor of prohibiting smoking in public areas such as forests, beaches, parks, and terraces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sweeping new rules affecting everyone from locals to tourists will come into effect in just a few weeks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[13133,2000,299,36,105,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-174536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-air-travel","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114662434767079774","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_GettyImages-2216327987-Catherine-Vautrin.jpg\")
France’s health minister Catherine Vautrin is behind the new measures(Image: Amaury Cornu\/Hans Lucas\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n