172 | Health
Legislation
The Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance stipulates statutory no-smoking areas and enforcement arrangements, and regulates the advertisement, promotion, packaging and labelling of tobacco products.
Since January 1, 2007, smoking has been banned in all indoor areas of restaurants, theatres, malls, karaoke establishments, other workplaces and indoor public places, child care centres, universities, schools, hospitals, escalators, parks, stadiums, swimming pools and bathing beaches. The prohibition of smoking in public areas
extended to bars, clubs, nightclubs, bathhouses, massage establishments, mahjong-tin kau premises and designated mahjong rooms in clubs. with effect from July 1, 2009.
From September 1, 2009, smoking was prohibited in all public transport interchanges with superstructures to reduce the adverse impact of second-hand smoke on public transport users. On December 1, 2010 the smoking ban was extended to open-air public transport interchanges.
With the enactment of the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance on September 1, 2009, persons smoking in statutory no smoking areas and on public transport carriers are liable to a fixed penalty of $1,500. In addition to the Police and tobacco control inspectors, authorised staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Housing Department are empowered to serve fixed penalty notices on offenders.
With the ending of the two-year grace period granted under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance to licensed hawker stalls selling goods including tobacco products on November 1, 2009, all advertisements and promotions on tobacco products were prohibited in Hong Kong.
Taxation
For public health reasons, the Government increased tobacco duty by 50 per cent with immediate effect in the Budget Speech on February 25, 2009. The duty on cigarettes increased from around $0.8 to about $1.2 per stick. This duty together with other tobacco control measures aims to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco use on members of the public. To strengthen further the effectiveness of tobacco duty as a measure to discourage tobacco consumption, duty-free concessions on tobacco products for incoming passengers (except for small quantity for self- consumption) at border entries were abolished on August 1, 2010.
Implementation and Enforcement
A main task of the Tobacco Control Office (TCO), set up in 2001, is to enforce the smoking ban at statutory no smoking areas. It conducted over 23 600 inspections and issued over 90 summonses and 7 950 fixed penalty notices for smoking offences in 2010. Another of its key tasks is to assist managers and staff of establishments in statutory no smoking areas to enforce the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance. In 2010, the TCO organised 17 seminars on tobacco control and prevention. Some 440 people attended these seminars. They included