LCQ15: Combating illegal smoking act in public housing estates
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Question:
Residents of public housing estates (PHEs) in the Sha Tin District have relayed to me that despite the long-standing issue of illegal smoking within the estates, enforcement is ineffective. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health has taken joint enforcement actions with the Housing Department (HD) to combat illegal smoking in the common areas of PHEs; if so, how many times such action was taken last year and the number of prosecution cases;
(2) it is learnt that the statutory no smoking areas (SNSAs) as stipulated in the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) currently do not cover all common areas in PHEs; and PHE residents who are found smoking in non-SNSAs within PHE common areas (other than the designated smoking areas) will only be allotted penalty points under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement, whether the Government will consider amending the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance to designate all PHE common areas (including outdoor areas such as parks and footpaths) as SNSAs, thereby empowering TACO and specified officers of HD to issue fixed penalty notices to persons who smoke illegally in such areas (including both PHE and non-PHE residents), so as to strengthen the deterrent effect; if so, of the specific timetable; if not, the reasons for that; and
(3) of the communication and collaboration mechanism between TACO and HD in respect of the day-to-day enforcement work on smoking offences; of the specific procedures for case referral and the time required by the two departments to handle complaints about illegal smoking in PHEs?
Reply:
President,
One of the Government's tobacco control strategies is to continuously expand no-smoking areas to protect the public from the harm caused by second-hand smoke. The Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health (DH) is the principal enforcement agency of the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) and the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance (Cap. 600), and has all along been working closely with relevant departments to enforce the relevant legislation in order to take forward the tobacco control efforts.
The consolidated reply, in consultation with the DH and the Housing Department (HD), to the question raised by the Hon Chris Ip is as follows:
Currently, the statutory no-smoking areas (NSAs) under Cap. 371 cover all indoor public places and indoor workplaces, as well as specified places such as cinemas, hospitals, public transport facilities, public pleasure grounds (except exempted areas) and schools. From January 1, 2026, the statutory NSAs have been further extended to areas within three metres of the entrances or exits of specified premises (including child care centres, residential care homes, schools, hospitals, and specified clinics or health centres), and the prohibition on smoking while queuing has also taken effect. As such, most places that residents of public housing estates visit and use on a daily basis are already statutory NSAs, including all indoor public places (e.g. lift lobbies, corridors, staircases), indoor workplaces (e.g. offices), and a host of other specified premises such as restaurants, markets, shops, shopping malls, public pleasure grounds, public transport facilities, bus interchanges, child care centres and schools.
As regards certain outdoor common areas within public housing estates that are not designated as statutory NSAs, such as certain footpaths and sitting-out areas, the HD has designated these places as no-smoking areas under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management in Public Housing Estates (Marking Scheme) since 2007. The smoking ban implemented in outdoor common areas within public housing estates is an arrangement established by the HD in its capacity as the manager of public housing estates, in response to the needs of property management and venue control.
If Tobacco and Alcohol Control Inspectors of the DH detect any person committing a smoking offence in the course of inspections at statutory NSAs located within public housing estates, they will issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) immediately without prior warning. In addition, according to Cap. 600, designated public officers of the HD (including Housing Managers, Assistant Housing Managers and Housing Officers) are also authorised to issue FPNs to persons committing smoking offences in areas managed by the HD. If the offender is a resident of the estate, apart from paying the fine of $3,000 as stipulated in the FPN, he/she will also be immediately allotted 5 points without prior warning under the Marking Scheme. Even if a resident of the estate is not smoking inside a statutory NSA, he/she will still be allotted points for the misdeed under the Marking Scheme. If a household accumulates 16 or more points within two years, the household's tenancy or licence will be terminated. If a person who is not a resident of the public housing estate violates the smoking ban in a common area of the estate that is not a statutory NSA, staff of the HD will advise them to leave the estate.
The TACO and the HD have established a collaboration mechanism, which encompasses intelligence exchange, the deployment of enforcement strategies and joint enforcement operations based on actual circumstances, including at locations where contraventions are more serious, as well as the referral of suspected contravention cases, and more. The TACO also shares enforcement guidelines and recommendations with the HD to strengthen tobacco control enforcement at various venues. In 2025, the TACO conducted over 32 000 inspections in relation to smoking offences in statutory NSAs in Hong Kong and issued 10 357 FPNs, of which over 200 FPNs were issued in statutory NSAs within public housing estates. In the same year, the TACO and the HD conducted eight joint operations against smoking offences in public areas of public housing estates and issued two FPNs.
The statutory smoking prohibition stipulated under Cap. 371 is implemented for the purpose of safeguarding public health. The Government considers that the current approach, whereby the HD's Marking Scheme and the statutory NSAs complement each other, has been effective in achieving the public health objective of reducing the harm caused by second-hand smoke. Within public housing estates, all indoor public places and indoor workplaces, as well as most outdoor areas with high pedestrian flow, are already designated as statutory NSAs where smoking is prohibited to safeguard public health. Residents who violate the smoking ban in the outdoor common areas within the housing estate will be allotted points under the Marking Scheme, which carries deterrent effect against residents with consequences no less severe than that of a fixed penalty. Generally speaking, the Government will not incorporate smoking restrictions established by property or venue managers based on property management needs as statutory NSAs under Cap. 371. Based on the same principle, the outdoor common areas of private properties have not been designated as statutory NSAs under the existing legislation.
When considering the expansion of statutory NSAs, the Government will balance the public health objectives, the proportionality of regulatory measures, and the overall circumstances of society, and will expand the scope of statutory NSAs in a progressive manner, with a view to gradually moving towards the long-term vision of a smoke-free Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Issued at HKT 15:00
Issued at HKT 15:00
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