Put it out: K-P plans to clamp down on smoking

Cigarette breaks at office will no longer be an option if law introduced

PESHAWAR: The health ministry has decided to either curb or altogether eliminate smoking in public places. A draft law with this objective in mind was tabled to impose far more stringent measures than the Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Health Ordinance, 2001, which operates at the federal level.

The proposed draft does not provide designated smoking areas in the workplace.

The K-P Prohibition of Smoking/Tobacco Products and Protection of Non-Smokers Health Bill, 2016, drafted by the health department, is a comprehensive plan to stop smoking in public places or on transport.

The draft had already been cleared by the governor and chief minister and submitted to the assembly secretariat.

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The draft varied from the 2001 ordinance in many ways as the latter does not allow smoking at workplaces, but allows room for designated areas on the premises. However, the draft of the provincial law does not allow any such relaxations.

A step further  

Even the definition of “tobacco” is more elaborate in the draft, which includes shisha (with or without smoke) into its ambit. At the same time, the federal law includes cigarettes, cigars or pipe in the category of smoking.

The federal law does not allow people to store, sell or distribute cigarettes or any other smoking substance with tobacco within 50 metres of any college, school or educational institute. The provincial government has decided to increase the same to 100 metres. The draft has added health facilities premises and public parks to the non-smoking areas.

The federal law imposed a ban on smoking in places such as auditoriums, health institutes, amusement centres, restaurants, public offices, court buildings as well as cinema, conference and seminar halls.



Other places include hotel or waiting lounges, libraries, bus stations, sports stadiums, educational institutes and libraries. Although it does not include open spaces, the draft of the provincial law has left no stone unturned to include rooftops, lawns and lobbies of the premises.

The draft states the health ministry will authorise an officer or a competent individual who will act under the ordinance.

“Every person authorised under Subsection 1 shall be deemed a public servant within the meaning of Section 21 of the Pakistan Penal Code” (Act of XLV of 1860),” the ordinance stated.

Ambit of the law

The law will be extended to the whole of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and states that the kind of advertisement such as notices, circulars, display boards, visible representations, symbols, stickers, t-shirts, logos, sportswear, caps or any other means of direct or indirect promotion of smoking will be dealt with accordingly.

The draft states the government may from time to time, by notification in the official gazette, declare any space as for the purpose of the law. The remaining rules are the same as the federal law which will apply to the province after it is officially approved by the governor.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2016.