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Persons in charge of a listed establishment qualified for deferring the smoking ban to July 1, 2009 are reminded to display prominently in the establishment signs with wordings prescribing requirements as set out under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance.
A spokesman for the Tobacco Control Office (TCO) of the Department of Health today (January 2) said that at each entrance a sign carrying the wordings of 䩕No person under the age of 18 years is permitted to enter this establishment蒅 (Annex 1) is required to be displayed at a prominent location.
A designated mahjong room in a qualified club should carry the sign with wordings of 䩕This is a designated mahjong room in a qualified club that has been included in the list of qualified establishments maintained under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance. The smoking ban will apply to this room with effect from 1 July 2009" (Annex 2). The sign should be displayed in a prominent position at the entrance of each designated mahjong room in the club.
For other qualified establishments, the sign should read 䩕This establishment has been included in the list of qualified establishments maintained under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance. The smoking ban will apply to an indoor area in this establishment with effect from 1 July 2009" (Annex 3).
He said that guidelines on the signs have been provided to persons in charge of listed establishments and are also available from Schedule 6 of the Ordinance (Cap 371) http://www.legislation.gov.hk/eng/home.htm. Samples of the signs are also available for collection from TCO.
The spokesman said that about 100 enquiries were handled today by the TCO hotline 2961 8823 which operates from 9am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday. TCO is following up 42 complaints of smoking offences in new statutory no-smoking areas on January 1 and 2.
In addition, the smoking cessation hotline received about 40 enquiries today.
Ends/Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Issued at HKT 20:15
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