A vaping ban on Barcelona’s beaches has been overturned after a successful appeal from anti-smoking campaigners.
The Former Smokers Association appealed against the local legislation that has been in force since July 2022. Being caught vaping or smoking on the seafront of the Spanish capital has carried a heavy €2,000 fine.
The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) ruled last week that the city council does not have powers to regulate vaping on Barcelona’s beaches. While vaping is now permitted across the city’s 10 beaches, the ban on smoking remains in place.
Authorities conducted a pilot test for the smoking ban on four beaches in 2021. The ban led to the smoking rate on the beaches dropping from three per cent that year to 0.97 per cent in 2024. Smoking is now not allowed on any beach in Spain.
New sweeping restrictions on vaping
Meanwhile, the Spanish government is preparing a Royal Decree that will introduce sweeping restrictions on vapes and other nicotine alternatives. These include a ban on disposable vapes and on all flavours except tobacco.
The so-called ‘Anti-Tobacco Plan’ contains measures to expand the number of places where smoking is banned and put vapers on the same footing as conventional smokers.
There is also a proposed nicotine cap of 0.99 mg per pouch – far lower than limits in most other European Union countries. Global health campaign group Smoke Free Sweden says this move goes against evidence showing higher strengths are needed to help smokers quit.
Spain has already introduced an excise duty on e-liquids, nicotine pouches and similar smoke-free alternatives, making them less accessible – particularly for lower-income groups, who are most affected by smoking.
A ‘de facto prohibition’
Health experts have warned the proposed restrictions on vapes and pouches amount to a “de facto prohibition,” as severely limiting nicotine strength and flavours makes the products far less effective.
Cardiologist Konstantinos Farsalinos said that far from protecting people, the restrictions would encourage unregulated and unsafe parallel markets, making it even harder to move away from tobacco.
He said they could also make it harder for smokers to quit the far more dangerous habit. Tobacco-related diseases killed 45,137 Spaniards in 2021 alone.
The risks of restricting safer alternatives to smoking
A recent report warns the country risks undoing a recent drop in smoking rates by heavily restricting safer alternatives.
Meanwhile, Sweden has more than halved its smoking rates in just over a decade by embracing snus, nicotine pouches and vapes for adult smokers.
Despite having a nicotine consumption level similar to the European average, the Scandinavian country records a 41 per cent lower incidence of lung cancer and half the tobacco-related deaths of other surrounding countries.
Dr Delon Human of Smoke Free Sweden said: “A recent increase in uptake of vapes in Spain has coincided with a notable reduction in cigarette smoking. However, rather than building on this progress of its own and learning from Sweden’s success, Spain is moving in the opposite direction.“The Spanish government is preparing to introduce a Royal Decree that will impose stringent restrictions on safer smoke-free alternatives – policies that could stall progress and deny Spanish smokers access to the very tools that have made Sweden a global leader in tobacco harm reduction.
