Beijing smoking ban review broadcast live
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E-mail Xinhua, July 25, 2014
Beijingers were able to watch live online footage of the city's lawmakers jousting over a draft law on smoking control on Friday morning.
The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress (BMPC) started to deliberate on the draft at 9 a.m.. The procedure was broadcast on www.qianlong.com, a website operated by the municipal government.
It is the first time that the institution has given citizens a glimpse into its work through a live webcast. The move manifests transparency in legislation and will help promote the regulation, said Wang Qingbin, an associate law professor with China University of Political Science and Law.
Compared with a poorly implemented rule issued by the municipal government in 2008 to ban smoking in parts of indoor public places and on public transport, the highly anticipated draft law significantly expands smoke-free areas.
It bans smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and public transport vehicles. It also bars smokers from open-air areas of kindergartens, schools, children's centers and historical sites.
The draft proposes designating smoking areas in outdoor places of universities, stadiums, fitness centers, medical institutions, tourism sites and parks.
Health authorities at county, district and city levels are appointed by the draft to enforce the ban.
People breaking the law would be fined 50 yuan (about 8 U.S. dollars) and violators who refuse to stub out 200 yuan. Business operators and managers which fail to post non-smoking signs or stop customers from smoking indoors will be fined up to 10,000 yuan.
The draft law, unveiled in April to solicit public opinion, is expected to be deliberated again in September and take effect in 2015.
China is home to over 300 million smokers, with more than one million people dying as a result of tobacco-related illness a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The country signed the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003 and it became effective in 2006. According to the FCTC, China should have banned smoking in indoor public areas completely by 2011. However, it is not unusual to see smokers puff away in restaurants, bars and hair salons.
With no national law on smoking control established, some cities, such as Shanghai, Harbin and Hangzhou, have local smoking bans. As the national capital, Beijing is expected to set an example, said Yang Gonghuan, deputy head of Chinese Association on Tobacco Control.
Although the draft proposed banning smoking in all indoor areas and workplaces, Yang said enforcement would be hard in government offices, especially those with officials who smoke.
Beijing is headquarters for many central government departments and institutional organizations. Enforcement bodies, which are under the jurisdiction of Beijing Municipality, are unlikely to enter offices of their bosses and stop them smoking.
Representatives with the BMPC advised at the 12th session of the 14th BMPC Standing Committee on Thursday that the draft should divide workplaces into different categories, and allow smoking in offices if no harm is done to others.
"Obviously, such advice is against the WHO FCTC," Yang said, adding legislative regulations should not offer any privileges to officials who have their own offices.
"If officials are not able to discipline themselves in offices, compulsory enforcement in their offices will be much harder," she said.
Yang also said implementing a ban at venues, such as restaurants and bars, would be hard as there are not enough law enforcers. She advised strengthening training to service personnel, who are responsible for a non-smoking indoor environment.
Law expert Wang Qingbin said the penalties imposed on business violators, ranging from 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan, are not a high enough deterrent.
However, Liu Zejun, director with Beijing Patriotic Health Campaign Committee and a drafter of the regulation, said the penalties were drafted with enforcement taken into consideration, adding legislation, abidance and enforcement of regulations are equally important.
"If a fine is set too high, law enforcers may find it hard to issue any fine ticket to business operators, which means the regulation will be unlikely to be implemented," he said.
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