New Regulations on the Smoking Ban at Public Venues in Beijing will be enforced on May 1st ,2008.

The New Regulations, an important supplement to Regulations on the Smoking Ban at Public Venues in Beijing enforced in May 1996, is a significant measurement to ensure public health, to promote social ethics, to minimize harms caused by smoking and to yield a non-smoking Olympic Games and a healthy city.

The New Regulations have specified the targeted smoking banned public venues and divided them into three groups. The first group includes public venues where smoking is absolutely banned, and the number of categories of public venues in first group has been expanded from formerly eight to ten. They are the inner space of medical establishments, nurseries, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, gyms, field of play and public areas of stadiums. The second group includes public venues where an absolute smoking ban is unfeasible like parks, playgrounds, restaurants and waiting rooms for public traffic tools, thus smoking is only allowed at particular smoking sections. The last group includes such special business premises as hotels, inns, hostels and training centers where according to the regulations, non-smoking rooms and non-smoking floors should be set.

In 2007, a sampling survey was made among those who are aged more than 15 years old in Beijing. The survey shows about 3.1 million people smoke in Beijing, among which 2.35 million are registered permanent residents and 0.75 million are migrant workers. Those who are exposed to secondhand smoke are mainly women and children.

In recent years, many campaigns against smoking have been launched in Beijing. For example, “Smoke-free Hospitals”, “Smoke-free Units” and “Smoke-free Schools” have been created; Smoking control in catering and taxi service has been proved to be effective. The average smoking rate among those who are above 15 years old has decreased year by year from 34.5% in 1995 to 23% in 2007 with an average annual decreasing rate of 1%.

The slogan of “Smoke-free Olympic Games” is put forward by Beijing for the sake of good performance by contestants and public health. It was initiated in Canada Winter Olympics in 1988, and an overall smoking ban was achieved in Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. The later Olympic Games are all smoke-free games. During the Games, the host countries have launched allover smoking bans at gyms and some other public facilities and at the same time they reject tobacco advertisements and sponsorship from tobacco producers. China has made a promise of a smoke-free Olympic Games. With Beijing Olympic Games being the first Olympic Games that will be held after the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control taken into effect in 2005, the government will meet great opportunities and challenges in smoking control.
　　
How can we ensure the implementation of the New Regulations after they are issued?

First of all, we should increase the publicity. Taking the opportunity of the issuing day of the New Regulations, we put forward the campaign against smoking to a climax to ensure that everyone is well informed of the policy and obey them on their own.

Secondly, we should strengthen supervision. Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee has trained more than 1,000 smoking control inspectors on the provisions in the New Regulations and penalties procedures. They will go down streets, towns and villages to inspect the implementation of the New Regulations. In addition, each unit should have its own smoking control inspector who is responsible for smoking control in the unit, for example, the inspector should check that if non-smoking signs are placed in non-smoking areas and if smoking sections are set. At present, there are more than 100,000 smoking control inspectors on duty at enterprises and public institutions in Beijing. Departments of public health of all districts and counties are commissioned to supervise the areas where are within their duties and to increase the whole supervision and law enforcement dynamics. Any unit that does not conform to the regulations should be warned to make corrections within a limited period of time and be punished. The fines for units can reach 1,000 to 5,000 RMB and for individuals 10 RMB.
　　
Last but not least, the New Regulations can't be carried out without understanding and support from the citizens. Taking this opportunity, we call for an active participation in the smoking control campaign. Firstly, people who formerly smoke should smoke as less as possible or even quit smoking; secondly, each citizen has the right to stop any activity that is against the New Regulations. Driven by the promise of a smoke-free Olympic Games, we believe that, with every citizen’s effort, a cleaner and fresher environment will be finally created.