The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposed a package of legislative amendments to the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance aimed at further strengthening the tobacco control framework in the city.

The proposals, published on Thursday for a three-month public consultation, also aim at protecting members of the public against passive smoking in public indoor premises.

"It has been government's established policy to seek, through a step-by-step approach, to discourage smoking, contain the proliferation of tobacco use and protect the public from passive smoking to the maximum extent possible," official stressed.

The Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, first enacted in 1982, has been subject to constant review and the latest amendment exercise took place in 1997.

Under the proposed amendments, the statutory smoking ban will be extended to cover the following premises:

All restaurants, regardless of their size and seating capacity, with a grace period of six to 12 months prior to implementation;

All bars and karaokes, with a longer grace period if demonstrated to be necessary;

Both indoor and outdoor areas of all kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and in the indoor premises of universities and tertiary institutions;

All indoor workplaces, apart from those licensed premises such as bathhouses, nightclubs and mahjong places where enforcement action would be left to a subsequent stage;

A workplace will be defined as any place where employees work, such as offices, shops and factories, but does not include domestic premises where the only employees are domestic servants, or places where only self-employed people work.

(People’s Daily 06/22/2001)