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Date Published: 01/05/2024

Spain greenlights new anti-smoking legislation

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The Ministry of Health plans to hike up the price of cigarettes in Spain and increase smoke-free spaces.

Spain greenlights new anti-smoking legislation

The Council of Ministers has given the green light to the Comprehensive Tobacco Prevention Plan (PIT) 2024-2027, a “fundamental measure for public health” that proposes steps such as expanding smoke-free spaces, increasing taxation on cigarettes, plain packaging and strengthening regulations pertaining to vaping devices.

This was announced by the Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, in the press conference on Tuesday April 30.

The anti-smoking plan, which has been definitively approved by the government, proposes increasing the amount of places where smoking will be prohibited, equating vapes with conventional tobacco products and increasing the price of a packet of cigarettes.

In addition, the Ministry of Health is working on an outright ban on single-use vapes and promoting research on smoking and its overall impact on health.

"The Plan was born with the idea of preventing young people from starting to smoke, to help smokers who want to give up the habit and to take care of the air that we all breathe," a Ministry spokesperson explained, adding that a 2020 European Health Survey revealed that, despite the fact that tobacco consumption in Spain has been reducing in recent decades, 22.1% of people still smoke regularly.

Health Minister Mónica García confirmed that her department has initiated the procedures to introduce generic packaging and thus reduce the "attractiveness" of tobacco packs. This measure, she said, will also affect "emerging products", such as electronic cigarettes, and will veto all additives and aromatic components.

Furthermore, the strategy will also propose that medications which have proven to be “suitable” for the treatment of tobacco addiction be covered by the National Health System. The Ministry will also collaborate with local authorities to modify municipal ordinances so that heavier fines are imposed on anyone throwing cigarette butts on public roads or in natural spaces.

All of these measures will be brought together in the reform on the smoking law, with the view that, by the end of the year, “a good part of them will have come to fruition.”

The latest data available from the Ministry indicate that tobacco is the cause of nearly 50,000 deaths a year in Spain, and that its consumption is linked to around 35 different diseases including COPD, lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

In other news: Spain will scrap reduced VAT on food this summer

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