Netherlands to ban smoking on playgrounds, only allow tobacconists to sell cigarettes

The Dutch government plans to continue cutting the number of stores allowed to sell cigarettes. From 2032, only tobacconists will be allowed to sell tobacco products, sources close to the Cabinet confirmed to NOS after reports in the Telegraaf. The government will also ban smoking on playgrounds.

Supermarkets will already not be allowed to sell cigarettes from 2024. Until 2030, petrol stations and convenience stores can still sell tobacco products, but the Cabinet plans to phase that out in the next two years.

The government also intends to further reduce the number of places where smoking is allowed. It plans to ban smoking at playgrounds and sports parks from 2025, among other things.

Next week, the Cabinet will discuss tobacco product prices. Next year and in 2024, a pack of cigarettes will become 1.20 euros more expensive on average. The government hopes that by increasing the excise duty on tobacco and making smoking more expensive, more people will quit, and fewer people will pick up the habit.

But according to NRC, cigarettes were still about as affordable in 2020 as they were in 2008. The price of a pack of cigarettes increased by a few euros in that period, but wage increases kept pace with it. In all those years, average smokers in the Netherlands spent 2.5 percent of their annual income on cigarettes.