Soon the only places smokers will be able to light up away from home will be in their cars and outdoors. A new law will be coming into force in 2014, as part of an EU directive, making it illegal to smoke in all bars, restaurants and nightclubs – irrespective of any ventilation systems that may have been installed.
Assistant Secretary of State for Health Fernando Leal da Costa explained that the current anti-smoking law was “flawed”. It should have involved a total ban on smoking in public spaces, particularly restaurants, he said.
Thus the new law will be far more wide-ranging – leaving smokers very much out in the cold, or stuck in their homes and cars.
Leal da Costa admitted, however, that establishments will need time to adapt, which is why the legislation comes with an eight-year moratorium. In other words, the full effect won’t be felt before 2022.
“We must implement laws patiently and with common sense,” he said.
Leal da Costa also commented on a new report about smoking in Portugal which shows that while the number of smokers has not seen an increase, under-age smoking is on the rise – with as many as 30% of under-19s taking up the habit.
In a bit to counter this trend, the government will be organising anti-smoking campaigns throughout Portuguese schools during 2014.
New tobacco tax encourages contraband
Government plans to slap a stiff new tax on rolling tobacco will almost certainly backfire and lead to contraband and people buying elsewhere, says the European Smoking Tobacco Association (ESTA), which predicts Portugal could lose as much as €73.9 million worth of the income they would otherwise receive.
The association accuses the government of trying to raise the price of rolling tobacco – traditionally the cheap way to smoke – from €90 to €120 a kilo. The increase “could mean a drop in 62% of tobacco tax receipts, as compared to 2013, and an increase in contraband,” it adds.
Talking to Expresso newspaper, António Abrunhosa, head of ITGA (the international tobacco growers’ association), said the consumption of rolling tobacco in Europe over the last five years has skyrocketed.
In neighbouring Spain, tobacco will cost €32 a kilo less than in Portugal, if the government’s plan to increase the tobacco tax comes into force in the 2014 State Budget.
The marked difference will mean many Portuguese smokers will “take trips” to Spain to buy tobacco for themselves and others, claimed Abrunhosa, adding that “15% of tobacco consumed in Europe is contraband”. The increase in prices “won’t mean people smoke less, it will just mean that member states earn less”.
