Spain is preparing a sweeping outdoor ban on both smoking and vaping. The draft law would outlaw their use on bar and restaurant terraces, beaches, stadiums, bus stops, children’s play areas and sports centres.
Vapes, heated tobacco, shisha and nicotine pouches would all be treated the same as cigarettes – despite the far higher health risks posed by smoking. The legislation also bans single-use vapes and prohibits sales to minors.
Health minister Mónica García Gómez said the bill aims to put Spain “back at the forefront of the fight against tobacco.” She added: “We’ll always put public health ahead of private interests. Everyone has a right to breathe clean air.. and live longer and better lives.”
Tobacco kills 140 Spaniards a day
According to García Gómez, tobacco kills 50,000 people a year in Spain, or “140 people a day.” But the law makes no distinction between deadly cigarettes and far less harmful alternatives.
Indoor smoking was banned in 2010, but almost a quarter of Spanish adults still use tobacco, among the highest rates in Europe. The hospitality sector has criticised the new proposal, since terraces remain popular with smokers year-round.
Spain’s approach goes further than France’s July crackdown, which banned smoking in parks, beaches and bus stops but exempted vapes and bar terraces.
The bill still requires parliamentary approval and could be amended. It does not include plain packaging or higher tobacco taxes, with cigarettes still selling for under €6 a pack.
Vape crackdown draws sharp criticism
Spain’s vaping crackdown has already stirred up sharp criticism from industry observers and other European governments.
Sweden, for example, has submitted a detailed opinion to the European Commission arguing that Spain’s proposed restrictions on nicotine pouches – including flavour bans and a tight cap of 0.99 mg per pouch – violate EU internal market rules and amount to unjustified trade barriers.
Karl Fagerström, the clinical psychologist who created the widely used nicotine dependence test, went further, warning that Spain has made “no progress in the fight against smoking” and should instead follow Sweden’s harm reduction model. He said Spain’s prohibitive strategy is likely to “keep the number of smokers high” and that the new laws could do “more harm than good.”
Haypp, a nicotine-pouch retailer, has echoed these concerns, warning that the measures undermine harm reduction and eliminate almost all current pouch products from the market.
Public health analysts have also criticised Spain’s plan for treating all vaping products the same as cigarettes and ignoring scientific evidence that non-combustible alternatives pose much lower risks.
Opponents also claim that the flavour bans and nicotine limits are disproportionate, risking unintended consequences such as pushing people back to combustible tobacco or encouraging illicit and dangerous markets.
