The government wants to ban tobacco vending machines and smoking outside schools, colleges or hospitals

The sale of tobacco in vending machines will be banned in 2025, and later this year smoking will be banned in outdoor areas near public buildings such as schools, colleges or hospitals, under a proposed law.

If the government bill is approved by the Assembly of the Republic, it will no longer be possible to sell tobacco directly or through vending machines in places such as restaurants, bars, concert halls and venues, casinos, bingo, game rooms, fairs, exhibitions. .

Also, at music festivals where there is “very aggressive marketing in the sense of encouraging the purchase and use of tobacco and even other tobacco products, namely heated tobacco, it will be prohibited to sell these products,” the secretary told Lusa. State Office for Health Promotion, Margarida Tavares.

The goal is to limit the sale of tobacco to tobacco shops or similar persons and at airports from January 2025.

The changes to the Tobacco Law, which are due to be approved by the Council of Ministers on Thursday, were mainly motivated by the need to transpose into national law a European directive of June 29, 2022, which equates heated tobacco with other tobacco products, banning the sale of flavored heated tobacco, the official said. .

However, he stressed, “the focus is actually on health promotion,” which includes “disincentives for tobacco use, as well as reducing the ability to access tobacco, that is, to sell tobacco.”

Therefore, the rules regarding smoking in enclosed spaces with public access, where there are already “big restrictions”, will be tightened.

“Basically, there are no more places where you can smoke,” with the exception of some places such as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, which in January of this year, in accordance with the law, installed equipment that allows “smoking”. have separate and protected areas for smokers”, and which they will be able to maintain until 2030.

There are also “very specific” exceptions, such as airports or other places where it’s not possible to go out for a smoke.

Margarida Tavares called the “most revolutionary” change the restriction of smoking in outdoor areas, within the perimeters where buildings with public access are installed, such as hospitals, medical centers, schools or colleges, a measure that should enter into effective October 23 – the deadline for entry directives in force.

“In some places, such as prisons, it might be a little unfair of us to do the same,” he said, explaining that it is possible to demarcate a properly marked area where you can smoke.

The official explained that the goal is to create more and more conditions that “guarantee people the best possible opportunity for their health”, as well as discourage tobacco use and restrict access, especially for young people, so that they do not start smoking. smoke.

“We want to have a tobacco-free generation by 2040, and we really believe that this is possible,” he said, stressing that the path taken in Portugal and other countries has paid off.

He noted that “a lot has changed” since the Tobacco Law went into effect in 2007, including a “very important” decline in prevalence and initiation of tobacco use.

In 2005/2006, the prevalence of smoking was 20.9% of smokers (more than 30% in men and about 12% in women, and in 2014 this figure decreased to 20% (28% in men, 13% in women) and to 19 % in 2019 (24% for men and 11% for women).

“We introduced restrictions on places where you can smoke and at retail outlets, as well as other warnings that were posted, and this had a very significant impact, especially on young people,” he stressed, recalling the study of the institute. of Public Health of the University of Porto, who found that in 2003, 19.9% ​​of young people aged 13 had already tried tobacco, and in 2018 only 3.9%.