France to ban smoking on beaches, parks and near schools
France is set to ban smoking in outdoor places visited by children, including beaches, parks and near schools.
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The new ban, which comes into force on July 1, will be punishable by a €135 (£113) fine.
“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” children, health and family minister Catherine Vautrin told Ouest-France.
She added that the “freedom to smoke must end where the freedom of children to breathe fresh air begins.”
Read more: Disposable e-cigarette ban ‘unlikely’ to tackle vaping rates, researchers warn
Other spaces affected by the ban are bus shelters, sports facilities and public gardens.
However, exterior terraces of cafes and bars will be exempt from the measures.
Vaping will also remain permissible in outdoor places - although Vautrin said she was working on reducing nicotine levels and the number of flavours of e-cigarettes.
Almost a third of French people smoke, the highest percentage of any European country, according to the French Public Health Agency.
More than 75,000 people in France die from smoking and it remains the country’s number one cause of preventable death, the government body states.
Smoking in indoors places, including offices, stations and shopping centres, has been illegal in France since 2007.
In the UK, a ban on single-use vapes is coming into force on Sunday 1st June.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the government had scrapped plans to make smoking in pub gardens illegal.