The Ministry of Health is proposing the expansion of the Anti-smoking Act to prohibit smoking in all public places, including bars and entertainment venues, as announced by the minister for health, Trinidad Jimenez. “We are prepared to consider extending the terms for implementing the law,” said the minister.

Jimenez explained that the Act is in “assessment phase” to see what degree of success it would have in implementation, and added that the act will be extending the smoke free areas. The minister has acknowledged that the Act has already produced “very beneficial” results so far, considering that in the first year after the adoption, more than one million people had stopped smoking.

However, she also said that health authorities have found that there are “many gaps” in the act, and that “this initial deterrent effect has not been completed.” Jimenez stressed that “the ban on smoking in public spaces has been extended to virtually all European countries” including some, like Turkey, which have “a tradition of high consumption.”

The reasons for expanding smoke-free environments are that smoking is a public health problem and that it is also necessary to ensure the smooth functioning and the rational use of health services. “People who smoke use more health services and consume more drugs, which increases the cost of health and pharmaceuticals,” she asserted.

New, stricter warnings will appear on cigarette packets soon, explaining more about the consequences of smoking on both the individual and those around them.

Currently, you are allowed to smoke in restaurants and bars that are less than one hundred square meters, which accounts for 80% of the total of these establishments, so the practical effect of the current act are very limited. In fact, only 40.000 of the more than 350.000 entertainment venues in Spain are smoke-free or have compartmentalized spaces for smokers.