Smoking ban across public parks is now in force in Paris
After the experiment conducted in the Alsace region, it’s Paris’s turn to test out the ban on smoking in public parks. Adopted on July 1st in Strasbourg, this anti-smoking measure is now winning over the French capital. The RGCI, a radical left, centrist, and independent party, made the request for this measure which the Council of Paris accepted on July 3rd.
France’s big cities now wish to push the 2007 legal measure, banning smoking in public spaces, to green spaces. The original law only concerned closed environments such as hospitals, schools, and workplaces. Now it will apply to public parks, even open air spaces, across Paris.
A smoking ban that keeps gaining ground
Faced with the plague of cigarette consumption, anti-smoking regulations are multiplying. After official buildings, the ban extended to bars, restaurants, and nightclubs in 2008. It was in 2015 that playgrounds fell under the new anti-smoking law.
After a few years of relative peace, despite the gradual raising of cigarette prices, the ban is claiming new ground. While tobacco consumption is falling every year, with a 2.5% reduction in smoking rates over 2024, millions are killed by cigarettes every year. By banning smoking in public parks, French authorities hope to dissuade younger invididuals from trying cigarettes. And to they are also working to reduce opportunities for smokers to enjoy their favourite vice.
Paris is launching a smoke-free public parks initiative. After four months of experimentation, the measure should be adopted officially. For the moment focused on four public parks, the ban will extend to all parks in the capital.
This ban is not a French invention, having already come into force in Finland, Iceland, and the United-Kingdom. After Strasbourg and Paris, which French cities will be taking arms against cigarettes in public parks?
