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Following is a question by the Hon Martin Lee and a reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 6):
Question:
The provisions of the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 2006 ("Amendment Ordinance") relating to no-smoking areas have come into operation since January 1 this year. Regarding the relevant enforcement efforts, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints received by the Tobacco Control Office ("TCO") of the Department of Health about the violation of the above provisions since their coming into operation, the approximate response time taken by TCO, after receiving a complaint, to conduct an inspection at the scene, the number of inspections conducted by TCO in response to complaints and the number of prosecutions instituted as a result;
(b) given that a member of the public was earlier assaulted and injured as he attempted to stop customers from smoking illegally in a restaurant, of the initiatives and supporting measures taken by the Government to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, as well as to resolve the problem of the public not daring to lodge complaints or stop others from smoking illegally for fear of being treated with violence; and
(c) given that the Amendment Ordinance does not stipulate that managers of no-smoking premises shall be liable for failure to stop smoking in their premises, of the measures taken by the Government to ensure that such managers will do their best to facilitate the effective implementation of the anti-smoking provisions in the relevant premises?
Reply:
Madam President,
Before replying to each part of the question, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Members of this Council again for passing the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Ordinance 2006 (Amendment Ordinance) last October, which allowed the public to enjoy a larger smoke-free environment and enabled our tobacco control efforts to make a major step forward.
It has been our strategy to impose tobacco control through a wide range of complementary measures including legislation, law enforcement, taxation, publicity and education. Expansion of no-smoking areas through legislation is one of the major tobacco control measures. While enforcement of legislation is important to ensure that no-smoking areas are smoke-free, it would simply not be possible to attain the target solely by law enforcement in the absence of a supportive social culture in the community at large. As we stated when the Amendment Ordinance was introduced, the Administration would push ahead with the smoking ban through a strategy involving a mix of publicity and education on one hand, and enforcement and prosecution on the other, which are all prerequisites for attaining the target.
On the publicity and education front, the Administration and the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health have launched a series of media and publicity campaigns, with focuses on building support for the smoking ban, promoting public awareness of the statutory smoking prohibition and the extent of statutory no smoking areas, soliciting the cooperation of the relevant industries in managing their premises to achieve a smoke-free environment, appealing to the self-discipline of individuals and consideration for the health of others to promote voluntary compliance by smokers and encouraging smokers to quit. By and large, the publicity and education efforts have had prominent effects. A large proportion of members of the public and the relevant industries have been compliant with the new law since January 1, 2007. I believe that inculcating a social culture that respects the statutory smoking prohibition and exerts public pressure remains the key to effective and smooth implementation of the smoking prohibition. These efforts would continue in the months to come.
In respect of enforcement and prosecution, the Administration's main strategies are to make unannounced inspections and targeted enforcement, especially against black-spots identified on the basis of complaints submitted, for the purpose of creating deterrent effect and targeting significant violation of the smoking prohibition. As smoking usually lasts for only a few minutes, it is impracticable and unrealistic for inspectors, no matter how large their establishment is, to enforce the law by rushing to any statutory no smoking area within minutes upon receipt of complaint for enforcement or to conduct tremendously exhaustive enforcement actions. Neither would this be a cost-effective way to utilise public resources.
In fact, the imposition of a smoking ban is no more than a stopgap measure. To tackle the problem at its roots, the solution lies in reducing the number of smokers. Some people are able to quit smoking on their own, but for those who need assistance, smoking cessation services are now made available by the Department of Health (DH) and the Hospital Authority (HA). In the past five months, the number of people calling the DH's smoking cessation hotline has increased twofold as compared with the same period last year. I am also glad to see that family doctors and pharmacists working in the community have joined us in the provision of smoking cessation services as well. We hope that the trend will continue.
My replies to each part of the question are as follows:
(a) Between January 1, 2007 and May 20, 2007, the Tobacco Control Office (TCO) has received over 8 000 complaints about smoking offences in statutory no smoking areas (though some of these are repetitive).
Since January 1, 2007, TCO has undertaken over 4 000 unannounced inspections to shopping malls, restaurants and other statutory no smoking areas, including inspections conducted on the basis of complaints received, patrols made during special events such as flower fairs at Lunar New Year's time and football matches, and has also taken targeted enforcement actions in places of black-spot identified through complaints.
During the period from January 1 to May 27, 2007, TCO has arranged to issue a total of 660 summonses for smoking offences. Meanwhile, during the period between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2007, the police also issued a total of 477 summonses to smoking offenders. Normally, upon receipt of a complaint, the TCO will contact the complainant as soon as possible to understand the situation, and conduct inspections and enforcement at the premises under complaint as appropriate.
(b) We note that in the five months since implementation of the new smoking prohibition, in absolute majority of the cases, smokers would respect other people and would stop smoking once advised to do so. If a member of the public finds out that someone is smoking in a statutory no smoking area, he could bring the matter to the attention of the venue managers for follow-up actions and let them remind smokers of the imposition of the smoking ban. The law has also empowered venue managers to request smokers who smoke in statutory no smoking areas to stop smoking or to leave the no smoking area. If necessary, venue managers can also call for the assistance of the police.
(c) To date, implementation of the statutory smoking ban has been generally smooth and successful with the active cooperation and collaboration of venue managers, for instance, to clearly demarcate the extent of statutory no smoking areas, to make smoking signs conspicuous on the premises to customers and users, to draw smokers' attention to the statutory smoking prohibition and to exercise their powers conferred by the law to stop smoking within the statutory no smoking area where necessary.
In order to assist the managers in the effective management of their no-smoking areas, TCO has since October 2006 conducted more than 100 capacity building workshops for venue mangers of various sectors, both public and private, attracting more than 5 000 participants. Guidelines specifically catering for the needs of venue managers were also published by the TCO and distributed to venue managers.
Over the past five months, venue managers of most premises under a smoking ban have collaborated actively with the Government to implement the smoking prohibition. Quite a few venues have also indicated that their business returns have gone up because of the ban. I am convinced that appealing to the public and the industries for collaboration remains an effective strategy in the implementation of the statutory smoking prohibition. Liaison with the industries will be maintained as appropriate.
I wish to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt thanks to the general public for their support, cooperation and comments on the statutory smoking prohibition in the past months. As in the past, we will continue our publicity and promotion efforts and enforce the smoking ban effectively according to our strategy so as to substantially reduce the harm of secondhand smoke.
Ends/Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:11
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