Smoking bans in gardens and on beaches: are they lawful?

Smoking bans in public places are multiplying. But are those bans actually lawful? We looked into the question, and here is what we found.

Laws that keep changing

The reform of 10 January 1991, known as the Évin act, prompted a debate in 2006. What emerged from it was that French law made no provision for banning smoking in an open public space, with the exception of station platforms and the grounds of schools and colleges.

Since 2006, however, local rules have been curtailing what smokers may do in open public spaces. In the absence of national legislation, it is for each town council to decide whether or not to restrict smoking in what are termed open places. As a result, the bans differ from one town to the next.

Bans that vary from town to town

As you will have gathered, whether or not you may smoke in a park depends on the town you happen to be in. Since 2018, for instance, anyone living in or passing through Strasbourg is not allowed to smoke in the city’s parks and gardens, even with a pocket ashtray. Since June 2019, Paris has banned smokers from no fewer than 52 gardens. Lyon has been proceeding cautiously since 2020, banning smoking in a single park on a trial basis over three years. In Marseille, 3 of the 20 beaches are closed to smokers.

Any breach of these rules can result in a fine. The legal basis for these municipal orders is open to argument, but they are lawful all the same.

Penalties left to the discretion of each town

As a rule, smoking bans in parks or on beaches have to be signposted at the public place concerned. Some town halls also publish the information on their websites. Visitors, though, may be unaware of a ban for all sorts of reasons. How is a distracted passer-by to be told apart from a determined repeat offender? The question sometimes produces inconsistent treatment.

Those inconsistencies extend to the penalties: a simple warning in Lyon, against a 38-euro fine in Paris.