Smoking ban on terraces remains on health minister's agenda

A plan to extend the smoking ban in Catalonia to bar and restaurant terraces and inside vehicles remains on the health minister's agenda. 

"Terraces are a space in which we do not sufficiently protect passive smokers," Manel Balcells told Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia. 

"I think we should [bring in a ban]," Balcells said in an interview published by the Catalan newspaper on Sunday. "I would have liked it to have come in during 2023, but we cannot cover everything." 

The Catalan health department is discussing the issue with their colleagues in the Department of Business and Labor, Barcelona City Council, Salut – Catalonia's public health system, and representatives from the restaurant industry. 

"We are moving forward with what would be a specific modification of the current law that would allow regulating the use of tobacco on terraces and also inside vehicles, as occurs in other spaces," Balcells said. 

Almost 1 in 4 smoke 

Almost one in four people in Catalonia are smokers. The number of smokers increased in 2022 to 24.1% of Catalonia's population aged 15 and over – an uptick compared to 2021, when the number of smokers reached an all-time low of 22.6%.  

A smoking ban came into effect in Spain on January 2, 2011, prohibiting smoking in indoor public spaces including bars, restaurants, cafes, and clubs. 

Former Catalan health minister Josep Maria Argimon first mooted the idea of banning smoking on terraces in September 2022, arguing that "regulations introducing new smoke-free areas have always led to people giving up smoking." 

Barcelona banned smoking on its beaches in July 2022, but no fines were issued during the first year of the ban.