The parties of the German government coalition have agreed after long negotiations on a ban on tobacco advertising on the street, Germany being the only EU country where this is still allowed.
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Advertisements in the public space for tobacco products will be prohibited from January 1, 2022, according to the bill consulted Thursday by AFP. From 2021, the free distribution of cigarettes during events will no longer be authorized and cinema advertising limited to films intended for an adult audience.
Electronic cigarettes will be affected by these bans from 2024, according to this text, which is to be debated in parliament for the first time on Friday, May 29.
Tobacco advertising is currently banned on radio, television and the press, but Germany is the only European country not to prohibit posters on the street and cinema advertising. In dark rooms, spots are only authorized from 6 p.m., but without restrictions on films or audiences.
" Combined with existing bans, " the new measures are an " effective way to lower the rate of smokers " in Germany, according to the bill. " Limiting tobacco and street ads in the cinema has long been a necessity, " said Julia Klöckner, Minister of the Environment also responsible for consumer protection, to the local newspapers of the Funke group.
" Above all, we must protect young people so that, ideally, they do not even start to smoke, " she added.
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A similar legislative initiative, yet approved by the Council of Ministers in 2016, had failed in parliament in the face of opposition from the conservative CDU / CSU bloc of Chancellor Angela Merkel. But at the end of 2019, this party changed its position on the subject, paving the way for new negotiations.