The new Regulations to be implemented are an important supplement to the Regulations against Smoking in Public Places in Beijing, which was issued and implemented in May, 1996. They are aimed at protecting people's health, advocating social morality, decreasing the harm caused by smoking, ensuring a "smoke-free Olympics" and creating a healthy city.

The new Regulations specify the non-smoking areas in public places and divide them into 3 groups: firstly, completely non-smoking public places, which have increased from 8 categories to 10 categories in the new Regulations. These 10 categories of public places include indoor area of medical organization, nursery school, kindergarten, elementary school, high school, gymnasium, competition area and sitting area of stadium, etc; secondly, partially non-smoking public places. Considering that some public places, for example parks, amusement parks, restaurants and waiting areas for public transport facilities, are almost impossible to be smoke-free, the new Regulations provide details concerning the setting up of smoking rooms or smoking zones; thirdly, special public places, such as hotels, hostels, training centers, and some other business areas. The Regulations dictate that these places must arrange non-smoking rooms and floors.

In 2007, a sampling survey was conducted among people older than 15 in Beijing. The results revealed the fact that there were about 3.1 million smokers in Beijing, consisting of 2.35 million local citizens and 750 thousand migrants. Most of the passive smokers are women and children.

The Beijing government has carried out several anti-smoking campaigns, including "non-smoking hospitals", "non-smoking companies", "non-smoking schools", etc. Meanwhile, restaurants and taxi companies have imposed restrictions on smoking and made significant progress. Due to these efforts, the average smoking rate among citizens aged above 15 declined from 34.5% in 1995 to 23% in 2007; in other words, the smoking rate fell by 1 percent per year.

The purposes of the "smoke-free Olympics" are to create a clean environment in which athletes can have better performance, and to protect the public health. The Olympic "smoke-free" movement started from the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, and the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 was the first entirely smoke-free Olympic Games. Since then, the Olympic Games have been free of smoking as all the host countries imposed complete bans on smoking in public places, especially Olympic venues, during the Games. Moreover, none of the host countries accepted tobacco producers as the Olympic sponsors. As Beijing will host the first Olympic Games after the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control came into effect in 2005, the Chinese government has promised to hold a "smoke-free" Olympics, thus bringing both challenges and opportunities to the city's fight against smoking.
 
How to ensure the full implementation of the Regulations after they are issued?

First, we will strengthen the promotion of the Regulations. We will take advantage of the day when the Regulations are issued to promote the anti-smoking campaign among the general public and make people follow the regulations of their own free will.

Second, we will enforce the supervision and management. The Patriotic Health Committee has specially trained over 1,000 supervisors, who have good grasp of the Regulations and the punishment procedure and will be dispatched to streets, villages and towns throughout Beijing to execute the regulations. In addition, every unit has to assign an inspector to supervise the implementation of the Regulations. The inspector's specific duties include checking whether "No Smoking" signs have been placed at appropriate places, ensuring the smoking zones have been arranged, and so forth. At present, more than 100 thousand supervisors are performing their duties at companies and organizations throughout Beijing. Health authorities of districts and counties will monitor and manage their allocated areas and strengthen execution of the Regulations. Those who have violated the regulations must be warned and required to correct their mistakes within a certain period of time and pay fines, which may amount to RMB 1,000 ~ 5,000 or RMB 10 (for an individual).

The implementation of the Regulations certainly cannot be successful without the citizens' support. We recommend you to participate in the anti-smoking campaign and make your contribution by restricting or even giving up smoking. Moreover, you have the right to stop any behavior that violates the Regulations. With your generous help, we firmly believe that we can create a clean, delightful environment for our citizens.