In a letter sent to the Portuguese parliamentary health committee, Vytenis Andriukaitis said that the discussion (to alter the current Portuguese tobacco law) was “an effective application of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control signed by the European Union (EU) and Portugal that calls governments’ attention for protection against tobacco smoke”.

Portuguese MPs have been debating alterations to the tobacco law regarding new tobacco products and whether they should be considered to be the same as regular tobacco and to restrict smoking rear the entrances of schools and hospitals.

At a first vote in the health committee the first idea passed but MPs rejected the limitations on smoking near schools and hospitals.