Spain’s proposed overhaul of its anti-smoking rules would extend the country’s restrictions beyond indoor public spaces to terraces, sports facilities, outdoor events, collective-use swimming pools, work vehicles and other public areas. The reform would amend Law 28/2005, the structure behind Spain’s major restrictions on smoking in bars and restaurants. The Council of Ministers approved the proposal in July 2026, but cabinet approval did not make it law: it still required parliamentary consideration.
The draft would make it illegal for minors to smoke or use tobacco-related products, including electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches, or to buy them. Parents of underage offenders could face fines starting at €200. The proposal also seeks to apply tobacco-style restrictions to e-cigarettes and related nicotine products, including limits on advertising and promotion. A reported element of the draft is a 15-metre protection perimeter around schools and hospitals.
Under the proposed rules, smoking would be prohibited on hospitality terraces, at collective-use swimming pools, sports facilities and outdoor events, on university campuses, and in commercial vehicles unless they are used exclusively for private purposes. The restrictions aim to reduce involuntary exposure as well as tobacco use. Reporting on the issue has cited exposure to tobacco smoke among more than 23% of non-smokers in Spain, alongside aerosol exposure in schools.
The proposal would treat electronic cigarettes and traditional tobacco products similarly, regardless of nicotine content, and ban forms of advertising and promotion, including signage in shop windows and bars. It would also restrict the sale of vaping products and similar devices to specialized outlets, ending their availability in convenience stores and bazaars. Pulmonologist Carlos Jiménez, a member of the smoking area of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), has argued that vapes are not simply water vapour: “They contain not only nicotine but also a range of other toxic substances; they are addictive.”
National adult smoking and adolescent nicotine-use figures measure different populations and behaviours. Spain’s 2025 National Health Survey, produced by the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Ministry of Health, found that 15.4% of people aged 15 and over smoked daily, down 1.2 percentage points from 16.6% in 2023. The INE described the 2025 figure as a historic low in the series, which began in 1993. Separately, the ESTUDES school survey found that 27.1% of students aged 14 to 18 had used e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days, up from 26.3% in 2023; conventional tobacco use in this age group fell from 21% to 15.5%. A reported 49.5% said they had tried e-cigarettes at least once.
The advocacy group Nofumadores.org welcomed the fall in daily smoking but warned that the headline figure does not capture newer forms of nicotine use. It has called for a state-level agreement to address vaping and other nicotine products, pointing to the rise in recent e-cigarette use among 14- to 18-year-olds. The proposed restrictions also respond to concerns about young people’s access to products marketed or perceived as less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
The draft’s legal status remains distinct from its proposed measures. The early general election scheduled for 29 November 2026 led to the bill’s lapse before parliamentary consideration. Smoking on terraces remains legally permitted pending the formation of a new government and renewed legislative action. The draft would also raise minimum fines for violations, with penalties starting at €200, but those provisions are not in force unless enacted.
Alongside the tobacco proposal, the Council of Ministers is expected to approve a new Medicines Law. Its proposed measures include allowing identical medicines to compete on price in pharmacies, granting nurses and physiotherapists limited prescribing rights, and enabling new drugs to reach public hospitals faster, including before final pricing agreements with pharmaceutical companies.
For residents and businesses, the proposed changes would require adjustments in hospitality and leisure venues, retail and commercial transport. Enforcement would involve coordination between local authorities and health agencies. The tobacco reform’s eventual scope will depend on renewed legislative action and the final text adopted by parliament.
