According to a report from El Universal, Mexico is set to ban smoking in many public areas across the country including beaches, parks, places where food and drinks are served, hotels and public patios and terraces.
The report says that that the Secretary of Health sent a draft, signed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to the Comisión de Mejora Regulatoria (Conamer), a regulatory agency in Mexico. That draft, described as a presidential decree, includes new restrictions on tobacco advertising and would greatly expand the areas where smoking will be prohibited.
According to the article (translated via Google):
Article 65 bis states that “for reasons of public order and social interest, it is prohibited for any person to consume or have any tobacco or nicotine product lit in spaces for collective attendance, including but not limited to.
“The patios, terraces, balconies, amusement parks, playgrounds or places where girls and boys stay or congregate, urban development parks, sports parks, beaches, entertainment centers, courts, stadiums, arenas, shopping malls, markets, hotels, hospitals, health centers, medical clinics, sites or places of religious worship, in places of consumption or service of food or beverages, transportation stops and others established by the secretariat.
Some of these places are areas where smoking is already banned, but many are not.
In addition, the draft calls for a ban on tobacco advertising—directly or indirectly—in magazines, newspapers, movies, television, radio, social networks and streaming platforms. The draft will also ban the use of animated drawings for advertising tobacco as well as in news editorials about tobacco.
It’s unclear when exactly the new rules will go into effect, though the draft says it would happen one day after the draft is published in el Diario Oficial de la Federación, Mexico’s form of a federal register.
Mexico has been active in introducing new restrictions on tobacco. In February, it modified laws that made places like sports arenas and public transit facilities smoke-free. Earlier this week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed a decree banning the sale of e-cigarettes in the country.