The Government has approved in the Council of Ministers the Royal Decree that puts an end to the covid-19 health crisis, so that smoking is once again allowed on the terraces of bars and restaurants and the use of masks is definitively eliminated

Three years later, smoking is once again allowed on the terraces of bars and restaurants. The ban, in force since August 2020, will lapse when it is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), between Wednesday and Thursday. In this way, the Royal Decree approved yesterday, Tuesday, by the Council of Ministers puts an end to the covid-19 health crisis, as well as to all the extraordinary measures adopted as a result of it.

Balearic citizens can smoke on terraces again

In March 2022 the ban began to be lifted in some communities, but the Balearic Islands decided to maintain it, taking advantage of the covid legislation still in force and while waiting for the government to finalise a reform of the anti-smoking law, which is still pending.
The Balearic Islands hoped that the reform of the anti-smoking law would come before the end of the ban, which in the islands was extended beyond March 2022, when in others it was eliminated.

terraza fumar

The draft text of the reform aimed to raise the price of tobacco, maintain the terraces of bars and restaurants as smoke-free spaces and ban smoking in cars in the presence of minors and pregnant women. It also wanted to extend the ban to other outdoor venues, such as beaches, parks, football pitches and other sporting venues, as well as during concerts in these same venues. It was drafted on the basis of proposals from the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery and the General Council of Nursing.

Goodbye to face masks

The use of masks in pharmacies, health centres, hospitals and socio-health centres has also been definitively ended. It was the last remaining measure resulting from the covid-19 health crisis. In any case, in the Balearic Islands, the Association Against Cancer launched a campaign in which bars and restaurants can declare their terraces smoke-free. This has been done by Bar Bosch in Palma, which was the first to join the campaign, as well as Ca’n Vinagre in Calle Oms, the Jardín de la Real cafeteria, the Brisas del Mediterráneo restaurant in Can Pastilla, the Ca’n Rafael bar in S’Arenal and in Felanitx, the Playa Marina restaurant.