New public spaces off limits to smokers from July 2025

From 1 July 2025, the government is extending the smoking ban to a number of open-air public places used by children. The announcement, made at the end of May 2025, is intended to extend the existing rules on tobacco in enclosed premises to outdoor spaces. In concrete terms, the decision concerns the places where children spend time: parks, public gardens, beaches, the surroundings of schools, bus shelters and sports facilities such as stadiums and playing fields. These places will become “smoke-free spaces”, in the same way as public transport or schools, so as to avoid exposing minors to smoke.

Places covered by the ban

The precise list of places concerned has been set by decree. It includes in particular:

• Public parks and gardens (open green spaces)
• Beaches (on the coast): the ban will apply mainly during the summer season
• The surroundings of schools (including secondary schools)
• Bus shelters (public transport stops)
• Outdoor sports facilities (stadiums, pitches, play areas)

These bans come on top of the rules already in place for enclosed premises (public buildings, restaurants, cafés and so on). The open-air terraces of cafés and restaurants, on the other hand, are not covered by the new measures. In plain terms, a smoker will still be able to smoke a cigarette on a bar terrace, but not in parks, on the beach or near a school.

The aims of the new measures

The stated main aim is to protect children from cigarette smoke. By banning smoking in places used by the youngest, the authorities intend to reduce passive exposure of minors to smoke and to discourage them from taking up the cigarette. Ministers have recalled that the point is to help bring about a “tobacco-free generation”. The approach forms part of the wider effort against tobacco and takes public health into account: tobacco remains the leading cause of avoidable death in France, with many illnesses linked to smoking. More specifically, health officials stress that smoking in the presence of children increases their risk of becoming smokers themselves and exposes them to respiratory problems. By making these outdoor public spaces smoke-free, the government therefore wants to offer the youngest places of daily life protected from smoke. According to the ministry, the ban also aims to change social habits: when a parent or another adult does not smoke while waiting for children at the school gate, that limits the “normal” image of the smoker in young people’s eyes.

What it changes for the public

In practice, this means that from 1 July 2025 smokers will have to refrain from smoking in all the outdoor places listed. Signs may be put up by town halls or local authorities to indicate these “smoke-free” zones. Law enforcement, municipal and national police, will be tasked with applying the rule, for example by recording an offence if someone smokes despite the ban. A fine may be imposed for non-compliance. Smokers, for their part, will find that they have to fall back on other spaces: the open-air terraces of cafés and restaurants remain permitted, as do public spaces not covered by the measure, such as certain forecourts or thoroughfares away from children.

They will, however, need to leave the park or move away from a group of children in order to light a cigarette. It should also be noted that the ban concerns only conventional cigarettes and smoked tobacco products. Electronic cigarettes are not included in the new rules. Users of e-cigarettes will therefore be able to continue using them in these outdoor public places, even though the government says it is considering future action on the subject. In summary, from 1 July 2025 smokers will have to observe new smoke-free perimeters, notably in parks, on beaches in summer, around schools, at bus stops and in open-air sports facilities. The measure, justified by the protection of children and by public health, requires the public to adapt their habits: they will have to think ahead about where to light a cigarette and accept that it is no longer possible in every outdoor space as it was before.