What's New

Smoking (Public Health) (Designation of No Smoking Areas) (Amendment) Notice 2010 comes into operation on 1 December 2010

The Smoking (Public Health) (Designation of No Smoking Areas) (Amendment) Notice 2010 designates 131 public transport facilities (public transport interchanges or bus termini) (“PTFs” for short), including 129 in open-air and 2 covered by superstructures, as no smoking areas with effect from 1 December 2010.  The plans of the NSAs in 131 PTFs were published in the Gazette.  Members of the public may inspect the original or copy of the plans at the Land Registry or the Tobacco Control Office of the Department of Health, respectively.

Section III (1AB) of Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap.371) empowers the Director of Health to, by notice published in Gazette, designate as a no-smoking area (NSA) the whole or a part of – (a) any area that consists of the termini of 2 or more modes of public transport and is used for effecting and facilitating interchange between them; or (b) any bus terminus of more than one specified route as defined in section 2 of the Public Bus Services Ordinance (Cap. 230).

Smoking ban in PTFs is taken forward in phases. Smoking is banned in 54 indoor public transport interchanges or bus termini since 1 January 2007. In 2009, 48 PTFs with superstructures were designated as no smoking areas with effect from 1 September 2009.