Anyone who lights a cigarette on a beach or public park in the France will be illegitimate from Sunday according to new laws aimed at protecting children from liabilities’ hazards smoking. Bus stops and sites in immediate proximity to libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which comes into force the day after it was published in the official Government Gazette on Saturday, according to the Guardian.

The law is required a week before the start of school holidays in France in an effort to immediately protect children from tobacco on the beaches. However, to the frustration of some anti -smoking activists, the ban does not cover the terraces of bars and restaurants, where many French still smoke. They are also unhappy that the ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes.

The new law was initially expected to enter into force on Tuesday following a previous announcement by the Ministry of Health, but the publication in the official newspaper means that this has now been speeded up for Sunday. Citizens should also not smoke 10 meters from schools, swimming pools, libraries and other places where smoking could damage minors.

The Ministry of Health said it would soon reveal the sign that would be used to identify these areas. Prohibition violators could face a fine of € 135 with a maximum of 700 euros.

“The smoke must disappear from the places where there are children. A park, a beach, a school – these are places to play, learn and breathe. Not for smoking, “said Health and Family Minister Catherine Vautrin. This is another step “towards a generation without smoke,” he added, which France has been targeting by 2032.

Yves Martinet, chairman of the National Committee on Smoking (CNCT), said the ban is “one step in the right direction, but remains inadequate”, criticizing the ongoing smoking license on the rooftops of the cafes. “The minister points out the protection of children,” but the children “also go to the terraces,” said Martinet, who is a pulmonologist. He also criticized the absence of electronic cigarettes by law.

However, Frank Delvau, president of the Association of Hotel Professions and Industries (UMIH) for the Paris region, said that the ban on smoking on the cafes terraces “would only shift the problem, because people on the terraces would go smoking.” Franck Trouet, of the France and Restaurant Union of France (GHR), said that “smokers and non -smokers can coexist” on terraces, the “last places of co -workers and freedom”.

In France, passive exposure to tobacco causes 3,000 to 5,000 deaths per year, according to official data. Smoking is steadily decreasing in France with “the lowest use ever recorded in 2000”, according to the France of France.

According to the Agency, less than a quarter of adults aged 18 to 75 said they smoke daily in 2023. Smoking causes 75,000 deaths per year in France and, again according to thedt, costs society 156 billion euros a year, calculating livelihoods.

According to a recent poll, 62% of the French were in favor of banning smoking in public spaces.