For several years now, the smoking ban has been extended to more and more places. In order to protect the environment and the health of its tourists, several town halls have chosen to make their beaches tobacco-free. If smoking on the beach remains generally legal, it is advisable to inquire before taking out your package.
This summer, millions of people will descend on French beaches and with them some smokers. For the holidays, it’s an opportunity to cool off, get some fresh air and have a good time. And many are bothered by the smell of cigarettes. Can you really smoke on the beaches?
Concretely, it is smoking allowed on the beach. However, more and more town halls are taking municipal decrees and regulations on smoking on the beaches change according to the municipalities. It is therefore appropriate to ask about with town halls or monitor signs at the entrance to the beaches. For example, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage has announced that for the 2023 summer season, smoking will be prohibited on its beaches.
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The rise of the Tobacco Free Beach label
Permanently banishing smokers from the beaches is the choice of more and more town halls. In 2011, the League Against Cancer launched a brand new label: Plage sans tabac. The first beach to ban smoking was La Ciotat in 2011 and the label was inaugurated the following year in Nice.
Today, about fifty beaches prohibit smoking. The areas most affected are Brittany and the Côte d’Azur. Fines have thus been put in place by town halls to discourage smokers. The objective is to limit passive smoking and to set an example for children.
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According to an Ipsos poll, in 2020, 81% of French people wanted to be protected from cigarette smoke on the beaches, an increase of 12 points compared to 2014. As for the question of cigarette butts, throwing them on the beach is equivalent to throwing them away. reject in the public space and the badly behaved smoker is then liable to a fine of 135 euros.