The nightlife sector and part of the festivals industry have raised protest against the Ministry of Health for the draft reform of the tobacco law, approved by the Council of Ministers on September 9. The text that equals electronic cigarettes to conventional tobacco, not only prohibits smoking and vaping in new spaces between which are the hospitality terraces and outdoor spaces of party rooms and enclosures of shows, but also extends the prohibition 15 meters from the accesses to buildings and public equipment.
Ramón Mas, president of the National Federation of Leisure Entrepreneurs and shows (Spain at night), explains that health “lifts a smoke curtain” with “cosmetic” measures that “transfer to leisure, bars, tourism, tourism, culture and shows a responsibility that does not correspond to them.” For its part, the employer denounces that the surveillance of consumption would fall on entrepreneurs and workers and adds that “if a client smokes tobacco, glycerin or other products”, it would generate “legal insecurity” and would affect the competitiveness of the sector.
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To criticism, which Minister Mónica García admitted as “total consensus”, Zamna, organizer of festivals and outdoor events, which qualifies “disproportionate” has joined the prohibition of smoking or vaping in open spaces. The company figure about 100,000 those attending its festivals this year in several Spanish cities, so it warns of the economic losses that this measure can suppose, in addition to the operational problems if thousands of smokers try to leave simultaneously the enclosure to consume.
What does the new antitabaco law say
The health draft introduces three draft changes. The first of these is that it extends the scope of prohibition, as it is vetoed and vapor outside collective pools, sports facilities and enclosures where shows are held, as well as in the outdoor spaces of party rooms and outside bars and restaurants. Limitations in outdoor bus stations are also incorporated, in driver transport and in other areas of open -pit suburban transport.
The second measure is that, a perimeter of 15 meters is established because reinforced protection environments are considered, so the consumption of tobacco products is prohibited from less than that distance from access to public buildings, health and social, educational and cultural centers, sports facilities and parks or children’s enclosures.
Finally, the text equals electronic cigarettes to tobacco products and introduces new restrictions, including the prohibition of marketing single -use devices. In addition, and to keep in mind, for the first time, the smoking prohibition for minors is set.
Health defends that the reform responds to epidemiological and market changes, with special attention to the rebound in the use of electronic cigarettes between adolescents, and that it seeks to “promote healthy and smokeless spaces in community and social environments.”
The clash with hospitality, leisure and tourism
The leisure employers are already beginning to fear a drop in time of permanence and the expenditure of customers on terraces and premises, and foresee an increase in neighborhood discomfort if the smokers are forced to concentrate on public roads (since they will cease smoking on the terraces to do so in the immediate vicinity). Territorial organizations of the sector have expressed formal allegations in the public exposure phase.
The new law arrives at a time when we remember that Spain beat tourist record, exceeding 55.5 million international tourists between January and July, 4.1% more interannual, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). For this reason, leisure companies warn of this possible effect on competitiveness against Mediterranean destinations with less strict regulations, such as Portugal.