HARBIN, (Xinhua) -- Smoking will be banned in all indoor public places in the northeast China city of Harbin under proposals for China's first local law to target "second-hand smoke."
The draft law outlines penalties for smokers who light up in public or work places and affect others with their smoke, said a spokesperson for the municipal government of Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province.
The highest fine would be 2,000 yuan (about 300 U.S. dollars), making it the harshest fine for a smoking offense in China, a smoking control seminar heard Monday when the draft law was announced.
Considering the reality of tobacco controls in China, the draft "Harbin Second-hand Smoking Control Law" would be practical to implement, said Yang Gonghuan, director of the National Tobacco Control Office under the Chinese Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (China CDC).
"As there is no national law on smoking control in China and the execution of tobacco controls is weak, the boom in local laws will definitely be effective in pushing forward a national tobacco control," said Yang.
According to the China CDC, China has about 300 million smokers and around 530 million people are affected by second-hand smoke. Of more than 1million people who die of smoking-related diseases nationwide, more than 100,000 die of second-hand smoke.
More than 30 smoking-control experts and journalists attended the non-smoking environment program seminar in Harbin.
The program was initiated by the China CDC in January over seven cities:Harbin, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Shenyang, Lanzhou, Nanchang and Chongqing.
On Sept. 1, the Guangzhou Smoking Control Regulation, China's toughest smoking ban, was enacted by the Guangzhou City authority. Under the law, smoking is strictly banned in 12 categories of public locations, including offices, conference rooms, halls and elevators.
Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, has employed 10,000 smoking-control supervisors and volunteers to work in the city's public places.
