Last cigarette:
Beijing brings in smoking bans from Monday
Health
activists have pushed for years for stronger restrictions on smoking in China,
the world’s largest tobacco consumer
A
smoker walks past Chinese national flags in front of a restaurant in Beijing.
Beijing is about to ban smoking in restaurants, offices and on public
transport. Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Reuters in Beijing
Sunday 31 May 2015 01.40 BSTLast
modified on Sunday 31 May 201508.12 BST
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Beijing will
ban smoking in restaurants, offices and on public transport from Monday, part
of new curbs welcomed by anti-tobacco advocates, though how they will be
enforced remains to be seen.
Health activists have pushed for years for
stronger restrictions on smoking in China, the world’s largest tobacco
consumer, which is considering further anti-smoking curbs nationwide.
Under the
rules, anyone in China’s capital who violates the bans, which include smoking
near schools and hospitals, must pay 200 yuan ($32.25). The current fine,
seldom enforced, is just 10 yuan ($1.60).
Anyone who
breaks the law three times will be named and shamed on a government website.
And businesses can be fined up to 10,000 yuan ($1,600) for failing to stamp out
smoking on their premises.
“Restaurant
staff have a duty to try to dissuade people from smoking,” said Mao Qunan, of
the National Health and Family Planning Commission. “If they don’t listen to
persuasion, then law enforcement authorities will file a case against them.“
The
government will also no longer allow cigarettes to be sold to shops within 100
metres of primary schools and kindergartens, according to state media.
Smoking is a major health crisis in China,
where more than 300 million smokers have made cigarettes part of the social
fabric and millions more are exposed to secondhand smoke. More than half of
Chinese smokers buy cigarettes at less than five yuan (80 US cents) a pack.
Parliament
passed legislation last month banning tobacco ads in mass media, public places,
on public transport and outdoors. Many Chinese cities have banned smoking in
outdoor public places, but enforcement has been lax.
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Bright red
banners, typically used to display government slogans, have been posted around
Beijing with anti-smoking messages. The city has also set up a hot line on
which violators can be reported, the China Daily reported.
The names of
people and companies who violate the rules more than three times will be posted
on a government website for a month, state radio said.
Anti-tobacco
advocates said they were more confident in the government’s will to enforce the
bans after a series of tougher measures in recent months, including a bigger
tobacco tax.
“We couldn’t
say this is the strongest law in the world,” said Angela Pratt, of the World
Health Organization’s Tobacco Free Initiative. “But it’s certainly up there
with the strongest, in that there are no exemptions, no exceptions and no
loopholes on the indoor smoking ban requirement.”
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