In Italy, Milan bans tobacco outdoors

Italy was the first European country to ban indoor smoking, and Milan is now the first city in the country to ban smoking outdoors. Here is what it involves.

A ban intended to protect residents

Since Covid-19 spread across the whole planet, people have become more aware of how important the air they breathe is. In Milan, air quality is far from adequate. A great many harmful particles circulate there. Known as PM10, they are currently present in quantities well above European recommendations.

In January 2021, in order to reverse the trend, the city decided to prohibit tobacco users from smoking in certain outdoor spaces. The aim of the ban is to bring down the level of harmful particles in the air and to slow the spread of Covid-19.

A trend spreading across Europe

In Milan, smoking outdoors is now forbidden in public places such as parks, stadiums, bus stops and, in some cases, cemeteries. Smoking outdoors in public means keeping a distance of 10 m from other people.

Sweden did not wait for the epidemic to ban tobacco use outdoors, vaping included. Since 2019, smoking has been strictly forbidden on platforms, at bus shelters, around stations, in markets, outside football grounds and other sports facilities, near playgrounds, close to schools and so on. In Spain, Galicia was the first region covered by such a ban, in 2020, before the government extended it to the whole country. A minimum distance of 2 metres between smokers must now be observed.

In France, no national restriction has been voted so far. Local bans are nevertheless appearing, depending on the mayor in office. Cigarettes are banned on the beaches of some towns, and in certain gardens and parks, in Strasbourg and Paris for example. These bans are marked out with signs.

By 2025, Europe will take a decision on banning smoking in all public spaces in major cities.