Anti-smoking lobby: Increase fines

By Chen Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-19 09:14

An expert panel advocating a ban on smoking in public places has called on authorities in Beijing to double the 5,000-yuan fine on establishments that fail to prevent smokers from lighting up on their premises.

A draft to revise the current anti-smoking regulations and raise the penalty will be completed by the end of 2010, Cui Xiaobo, a member of the panel, told China Daily Monday.

"Harsher penalties for establishments will be more effective than going around fining individuals," Cui said.

The fine for individuals flouting smoking bans in the capital used to be a meager 10 yuan. Cui said certain legislative issues and the relatively small fine presented significant obstacles in their campaign against smoking.

The Beijing health bureau warned "245 institutions and persuaded 2,463 smokers" to kick the butt from January to March this year, reported Jinghua Times last month.

Cui said he submitted his proposal after a survey last October of 6,000 citizens found that more than 70 percent of Beijing residents wanted the government to increase fines if it was serious about banning smoking in public places.

Regulations, effective May 1, 2008, clearly define non-smoking public venues and partly prohibited sites such as hotels, restaurants and training centers.

"Thanks to the ban, the rate of lighting cigarettes decreased to 21.5 percent last year, 1.5 percent lower than 2007," Cui said.

Rao Yingsheng, deputy director of the patriotic hygiene and sports committee of the Beijing health bureau, Monday said the regulation needs some "more research".

"In order to ban smoking in all public places by 2018, we need to do a lot more to create public awareness," he said.

Zhang Peili, an official with the municipal government's legislative affairs office, is supervising the promulgation of the rule.

Zhang said she "hadn't heard" the draft work would double the fine for institutions that allow smokers to light up.

Just the thought of such a high fine already has Beijingers opting to take the 'No Smoking' sign seriously.

"Who wants to pay so much money as a fine? I'm going to put up so many 'no smoking' signs in my store that no one dare think of lighting up," said Wang Lin, 26, who runs a bookstore in the city.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cigarettes, with nearly 2 trillion smoked every year.