Smoking Ban to be extended to hawker centres,
coffeeshops, and entertainment outlets
The National Environment Agency (NEA) will
be extending the smoking ban to hawker centers, coffeeshops and
entertainment outlets.
The ban at hawker centers and coffeeshops
will take effect from 1 July 2006, while the ban at entertainment
outlets will start on 1 July 2007.
Results of Public Consultation
Between Jan and Jun 2005, NEA conducted
extensive consultations with the public and stakeholders to better
understand their concerns and to seek their views on possible mitigating
measures.
The results of the consultations showed
strong public support for the extension of smoking ban to these places.
A similar survey by the Health Promotion Board conducted earlier also
showed strong support for the smoking ban.
Extension of Smoking Ban
The smoking ban at coffee shops will come
into effect on 1 Jul 06. Smoking will be banned within the indoor
refreshment areas (IRA) of coffeeshops. However, coffeeshop operators
may designate up to 20% of the seats in their outdoor refreshment area (ORA)
as a smoking corner.
Similarly, the smoking ban will be extended
to hawker centres from 1 July 2006. 20% of the ORA seats may be set
aside as a smoking corner. For those hawker centres that do not have ORA,
10% of the IRA can also be designated as smoking corner. Hawker
Associations will decide on whether to provide smoking corners and where
they are to be located.
For entertainment outlets, the smoking ban
will be implemented on 1 July 2007. Operators of entertainment outlets
may set up a designated smoking room, which must be separately
ventilated, within their IRA. The area of the smoking room shall be no
more than 10% of the IRA. Those with ORA may designate up to 20% of the
seats in the ORA for smoking.
A summary of the extension of smoking ban to
coffeeshops, hawker centers and entertainment outlets is as follows:
Areas
Implementation Date
Mitigation Measures
Hawker Centres
Indoor Refreshment Area (IRA)
Jul 06
If no ORA,
allow smoking corner
(less than or
equal to 10% of IRA seating capacity)
Outdoor
Refreshment Area (ORA)
Jul 06
Allow smoking
corner
(less than or
equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)
Coffeeshops
IRA
Jul 06
Nil
ORA
Jul 06
Allow smoking
corner
(less than or
equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)
Entertainment Outlets
IRA
Jul 07
Allow smoking
room with separate ventilation
(less than or
equal to 10% of IRA)
ORA
Jul 07
Allow smoking
corner
(less than or
equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)
NEA will notify
licensees of the affected premises of the implementation of the
smoking ban. Licensees who wish to make enquiries may contact the
NEA Hotline at 1800-CALL-NEA (6225 5632).
Reminder on
Extension of Smoking Ban
The NEA would like to remind the public that from 1st
October 2005, the ban on smoking under the Smoking (Prohibition In
Certain Places) Act will be extended to the following places:
Bus interchanges/stops;
Public toilets;
Public swimming complexes;
Open air stadia; and
Community centre/clubs.
This was announced by the Minister for the Environment & Water
Resources in Mar 2005.
Smoking ban to be extended to hawker centres, coffeeshops &
entertainment outlets
