If the Government's bill is approved by the Assembly of the Republic tomorrow, cigarrettes will no longer be available via vending machines and smoking in outdoor spaces close to public buildings will be prohibited.
If the new law goes ahead, It will no longer be possible to sell tobacco directly or through vending machines in places such as restaurants, bars, concert halls and venues, casinos, game rooms, fairs and exhibitions from 2025.
Smoking in outdoor spaces, within the perimeters of buildings with public access, such as schools, colleges or hospitals, will be prohibited from 23rd October this year, 2023.
Also at music festivals, where there is "an very aggressive marketing to promote the purchase and use of tobacco and even other tobacco products, namely heated tobacco", it will be forbidden to sell these products.
Amendments to the law expected to be approved this Thursday
The objective is to restrict the sale of tobacco to tobacconists or similar and in airports from January 2025. These alterations to the Tobacco Law were motivated essentially by the need to transpose the European directive of 29 June 2022 into national legislation, which equates heated tobacco with other tobacco products, prohibiting the sale of heated tobacco with flavourings.
The Secretary of State for Health Promotion, Margarida Tavares, stressed, “the focus is really on health promotion”, which involves “disincentivizing tobacco consumption and also reducing the possibility of access to tobacco, that is, the sale of tobacco”.
Therefore, the rules regarding smoking in closed spaces with public access, where there are already “great restrictions” , will be tightened.
“Basically, there are no longer any places where you can smoke”, with the exception of some restaurants, bars and nightclubs which, as a result of legislation, installed equipment in January this year that allows “separate and protected spaces for smokers” and which they will be able to maintain until 2030.
There are also “very specific” exceptions such as airports or other places where it is not possible to go somewhere to smoke. Margarida Tavares highlighted the restriction of the possibility of smoking in outdoor spaces, within the perimeters of buildings with public access, such as hospitals, health centers, schools or colleges, as the "most revolutionary" alteration - a measure that should come into effect on 23rd October 2023.
“In some places, such as prisons, perhaps it would be a little unfair for us to do the same thing” , she said, explaining that it is possible to delimit a properly marked space where it is possible to smoke.
Goal “is to create a tobacco-free generation by 2040”
The minister explained that the aim is to create more and more environments that "ensure people have the best options for their health" , but also to discourage tobacco consumption and limit access, especially to younger people, so that they do not start to smoke.
“We want to create a tobacco-free generation by 2040 and we really believe that this is possible” , said Margarida, stressing that the path that has been followed in Portugal and in other countries has yielded results.
Since the Tobacco Law came into force in 2007, “many things have changed”, with a “very important” reduction in the prevalence and initiation of tobacco use.
In 2005/2006, the 20.9% of the population were smokers, a figure that dropped to 20% in 2014, and to 19% in 2019.
“We have been implementing restrictions on places where it is possible to smoke and on points of sale for years, as well as other warnings that were placed and this had a very significant impact, particularly on young people”, stated Margarida, recalling a study by the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto which found that, in 2003, 19.9% of young people aged 13 had already tried tobacco, while in 2018 only 3.9% had done so.
Source https://postal.pt/
