In March, the Chinese government announced a new regulation stipulating that 28 types of public places in China will become smokefree. This is a huge step forward for a country where smoking is a cultural norm, despite the fact that 1 million Chinese die of tobacco-related diseases each year.
The Implementation of Regulations on Public Places Sanitation Administration (2011) issued by the Ministry of Health stipulates that hotels, restaurants, theaters, shopping centres, bars and a number of other types of venues will now be smokefree. The new guidelines require owners of these public places to post no smoking signs and to train staff to tell smokers to stop smoking. The policy also prohibits the placement of outdoor smoking areas in walkways frequented by pedestrians and the placement of cigarette vending machines in public places. Fines for owners of public places who violate the guidelines range from 1,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan.
This regulation, which was lauded by The Union and the Bloomberg Philanthropies as a major step forward in the national smokefree legislation, will take effect on 1 May.
China has been moving gradually towards implementing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) over the past five years. The China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention's Tobacco Control Office, which is the recipient of a Union-managed Bloomberg Initiative (BI) grant, recently prepared a report in conjunction with Tsinghua University and other BI partners that reviewed China's progress.
They found that although there has been a gradual increase in government attention to tobacco control issues, its commitment still needs to increase, and countering the powerful tobacco interest groups remains difficult. Other challenges include changing public perception and overcoming misconceptions about the harms of smoking and second-hand smoke.
Those involved in the FCTC review believe their report was instrumental in getting the government to include provisions for tobacco control in the 12th five-year plan. This is the first time that tobacco control issues, such as smokefree, have been included in this comprehensive health plan for the country. The new regulation on smokefree is one testament to the commitment of the Chinese government to tobacco control.