Stop cigarette smoking, even outdoors. Thenew squeeze will also affect e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. The draft with the new bans, already announced by the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci, would be ready.

The new rules should provide for a stop to smoking, including e-cigarettes, in outdoor areas, at public transport stops and even in parks if children and pregnant women are present.

The intention to extend the smoking ban "in other outdoor places in the presence of minors and pregnant women" was announced by Minister Schillaci last January.

The new bans

In the draft, the smoking ban for all types of cigarettes would affect not only the inside of the premises but also the tables outside (smoking can only be allowed if the room has an area reserved for smokers).

Stop also at the outdoor stops of metro, bus, train and ferries, while smoking lounges in airports should be eliminated.

Tightcoming also for the advertising of electronic cigarettes of various kinds. In fact, the rigid limits already imposed on traditional smoking products, for which any form of direct and indirect advertising is prohibited, will apply.

The new prohibitions, not yet final and subject to change, could be provided for in a bill of government initiative, but the text could also be included in another provision at the time of approval.

The fine for offenders should be 275 euros, reduced by 50% if you pay within 60 days. The same penalty is provided for those who break the ban on traditional smoking indoors.

The numbers of smoking

The data of the "Report on smoking in Italy" of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, presented on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2022 (World No Tobacco Day, 31 May), show us that one in four Italians smokes (24.2 percent of the total population) and we must go back to 2006 to find a similar percentage.

Today there are 12.4 million smokers in our country and represent 24.2% of the population. The increase concerns both men and women. Young men (43 percent between 25 and 44 years old) and mature women (24.5 percent between 45 and 64 years old) smoke more. Ex-smokers make up 15% of the population.

How much you smoke

They smoke an average of 11.5 cigarettes per day (the average daily consumption is slightly decreasing). The heavy consumers (more than 20 cigarettes per day) are mainly males (25.6 percent compared to 13.4 percent of women). Very few heavy smokers are between 15 and 24 years old: almost half of the young people who smoke limit themselves to less than 9 cigarettes a day, and another significant share (45.5%) smokes between 10 and 19.

The electronic cigarette and heated tobacco products

In Italy, habitual and occasional users of electronic cigarettes are 2.4% of the population, or about 1,200,000 people. 81.9% of those who use the e-cig are smokers, therefore a dual consumer who smokes both. 2.8% of regular or occasional e-cigarette smokers are people who had never smoked traditional cigarettes before using the e-cigarette.

Heated tobacco cigarettes, on the other hand, are used by 3.3% of the Italian population, about 1,700,000 people. Their consumption has tripled, from 1.1% in 2019 to 3.3% in 2022.