France has banned smoking in parks, beaches and bus stops — but not restaurant patios

Depending on who you ask, France's decision to exclude restaurant patios and terraces from its outdoor smoking ban is either a gross oversight, or a necessary preservation of French culture and liberty.

On Saturday, the country enacted a new ban on outdoor smoking at parks, sports venues, beaches, bus stops and outside schools, with fines of between 90 and 135 euros ($144 to $216 Cdn).

The government aims to curb cigarette use anywhere children gather in public, in line with President Emmanuel Macron's goal of ushering in the country's first "tobacco-free generation" by 2032.

Anti-smoking advocates welcomed the new rules, but derided the exclusion of restaurant and cafe patios and terraces, places they say are popular with families. 

"These places regularly expose children to second-hand smoke and contribute precisely to the normalization of tobacco consumption in public spaces," the National Committee Against Smoking said in a statement.

But those who work in the food and drinks industry have vowed to do everything they can to keep the ban from reaching their outdoor tables. 

"We really want to protect these last spaces of liberty, of freedom, where people  — I mean smokers and non-smokers — are able to enjoy together a friendly and free atmosphere with a lot of pleasure," Franck Trouet, executive director of hospitality association Hotels and Restaurants of France, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"It is one of the last spaces in France where you can have a cohabitation between smokers and non-smokers, and people are asking for that."

The goal is 'denormalization'

Philippe Bergerot, president of the French League Against Cancer, says the new restrictions are designed to promote the "denormalization" of smoking.

That's a huge challenge in a country where smoking is baked into the culture, romanticized in the media and seen to many as a symbol of liberty.

"In people's minds, smoking is normal," Bergerot said. "In France, we still have this mindset of saying, 'This is a law that restricts freedom.'"

But Health Minister Catherine Vautrin says the freedom to smoke "ends where children's right to breathe fresh air begins."

While second-hand smoke in enclosed spaces poses a greater risk, a number of studies have linked second-hand smoke in outdoor spaces to increased nicotine exposure and other negative health effects.

"Where there are children, tobacco must disappear," Vautrin told Ouest-France ahead of the ban. 

Smoking has been declining in France steadily over the last decade, according to government data. 

It's been illegal to smoke inside restaurants, bars and public buildings since a series of bans in 2007 and 2008, and taxes on cigarettes have risen sharply over the years. 

But more than 30 per cent of French adults still smoke cigarettes, most of them daily. That's one of the higher rates in Europe and globally.

The Health Ministry says more than 200 people in France die each day of tobacco-related illness, adding up to 75,000 deaths a year.

The ministry says it's particularly concerned that tobacco remains popular among young people, citing public health statistics showing that 15 per cent of 17-year-olds smoke.

Parisians divided 

French residents, meanwhile, remain divided. 

Parisian Natacha Uzan said she welcomed the end of smoking in restaurants, but she believes the new rules have gone too far. 

"Now outside, in parks, I find it becoming a bit repressive," she said.

Parisian Anabelle Cermell, on the other hand, welcomed the rules, which she says will protect her three-year-old son. 

"I tell myself, oh, it's really not ideal for him, but there's not much I can do about it, or I would have to ... not take the bus, not go to parks," she said. 

Trouet worries that banning cigarettes in parks and beaches is just the first step, and that terraces and patios will be targeted next.

If that happens, he says customers who smoke will be forced onto the streets, causing a nuisance for passersby and littering the city.

Still, he acknowledged that some non-smoking customers are irritated by the second-hand smoke on patios and terraces.

"I see that sometimes, and I always answer the same thing: It belongs to the owner of the cafe or the restaurant to decide if he wants to ban smoking on his terrace. He has the right," Trouet said. "It is a question of freedom, of liberty, as we say in France."

With files from The Associated Press. Interview with Franck Trouet produced by Emma Waverman and Leïla Ahouman