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Performers
dance with an anti-smoking gesture, which means 'I do mind' in front of the
National Bird's Nest stadium, ahead of the new Beijing smoking ban
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- Tough new anti-smoking legislation came into effect in Chinese capital
- Smokers are banned from lighting up in restaurants, hotels and hospitals
- A new hotline and social media account set up to report those flouting ban
- A similar ban was implemented in 2011 but many smokers just ignore it
China has launched another bid to ban smoking in
public places and has even brought in a hotline and 'Twitter' feed where people
can report smokers who flout the law.
The new
tough anti-smoking legislation came into effect today, banning lighting up in
offices, restaurants, hotels and hospitals in Beijing with unprecendented fines
of up to 10,000 yuan (£1060).
A similar
nationwide measure was passed in 2011, albeit without financial sanctions, and
implementation was lacklustre, meaning many smokers ignored the ban.
Daily Mail UK reports:
But new
posters in Beijing have been advertising a hotline number for tip-offs, and the
city government has launched a social media account allowing observers to
upload images of smokers caught in the act.
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A woman
smokes a cigarette outside an office building in Beijing. The city has
previously tried to ban smoking but many people ignore the ban
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Health
commission inspectors will be in charge of enforcing the law, carrying out
spot-checks and acting on tip-offs from the public.
It means
venues who repeatedly ignore the law could have their licences revoked, while
individuals caught smoking in prohibited zones could be fined as much as 200
yuan (£22).
Nightclubs
have been singled out as a potential problem area, Zhang Jianshu, president of
the Beijing Tobacco Control Association, told the China Daily newspaper.
He said:
'The key lies in the business owners. They have the responsibility to ensure no
smoking within their establishments.'
'The
measure fails to make clear who is ultimately responsible, for implementation,
leaving the possibility that authorities will pass the buck to each other.'
Many
restaurants in the Chinese capital were also worried about the law, and were
concerned it could harm business.
Zhang Lin,
a manager at a Japanese restaurant, said: 'We normally allow people to smoke
inside at night, but we're going start stopping them from tonight.
'Some
people might be very unhappy though, and after all, the customer is god.'
Other
businesses had set up outdoor seating in order to provide space for people to
smoke.
But
waiters said they were unsure what would happen during Beijing's freezing
winter months.
Meanwhile
other restaurants visited were unaware of the regulations.
Mr Chen,
the manager of a Beijing noodle shop, said: 'I haven't heard of the specific
law banning smoking, but we follow all rules and regulations.'
Environmental
and safety laws in China are often openly flouted because of limited official
oversight, or corruption in the form of bribes to law enforcers.
Cigarettes
remain cheap, with packs often costing less than five yuan (50p), and some
Chinese experts say the Beijing law still does not go far enough.
Jiang
Huan, vice director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
said: 'The new regulation should require tobacco producers to print a warning
on cigarette packages.'
A barrier
to imposing similar measures across the country is the continued clout of
China's state-run tobacco industry, which provides the government with colossal
amounts of money -- 911 billion yuan in taxes and profits in 2014, an increase
of 12 percent year-on-year.
China's tobacco regulator
shares offices and senior officials with the state-owned China National Tobacco
Corp, which is by far the world's biggest cigarette producer and has a near
monopoly in the country.
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