BEIRUT:
Four months after Parliament approved a law to ban smoking in public places,
Parliament members said Thursday that the first phase of implementation has
began and urged officials to be vigilant in enforcing the measure.
Speaking
during at a news conference at Parliament, Beirut MP Atef Majdalani told
reporters that there are three major phases for the implementation of the new
smoking policy and described the penalties for those who fail to follow the
law.
The
first stage, which went into effect in September, bans smoking in government
buildings, hospitals, pharmacies, schools and universities, cinemas, stadiums,
on public transportation and in private companies.
Violators
of the law are subject to penalties ranging from a LL100,000 fine to three
months in prison. “All those who thought such a law would not be implemented
will now be disappointed … we will not hesitate to hold people accountable,”
said Majdalani.
Metn
MP Ghassan Moukheiber said that more needs to be done to ensure the proper
implementation of the smoking ban in the country, including at Parliament.
“Although
part of the law is in effect now … there are lawmakers who continue to smoke in
the Parliament and in ministries,” Moukheiber told The Daily Star.
“Some
good third of the Parliament members are smokers and many of them are still not
complying with the law,” he added.
The
tobacco law, which was passed by the Parliament in August, stipulates fines for
business owners as well as their patrons if they violate the ban.
“Every
Lebanese should be responsible and be ready to accept the new terms of the law
and refrain from smoking automatically,” Moukheiber said, adding that there are
still many Lebanese who are unhappy with the smoking ban.
“For
this new law to succeed, you need strong political will and the development of
a nationwide culture of understanding toward the law.”
In
the second phase of the new smoking law, all advertising of tobacco products,
including sponsorship of events by tobacco companies, will be banned across the
country. According to Majdalani, the second phase will go into effect in March
next year.
Rima
Nakkash, assistant professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American
University of Beirut, said that cooperation between parliamentary committees
and the government could improve enforcement of the law.
“There
is good cooperation between the legislative and the executive branches in
approving implementation decrees that will support the enforcement and
compliance of the law,” said Nakkash.
According
to Nakkash, officials should now focus on the steps required for the
enforcement of penalties, but she said that the public have shown their
approval of the smoking ban.
“We
had surveys on Lebanese public opinion regarding the ban and the approval rate
of the law was very high,” said Nakkash, adding that such approval should
facilitate enforcement of the law.
In the months before the
approval of the new smoking law at the parliament, high-ranking lobbyists of
both local and international tobacco firms rallied at parliamentary committee
meetings in a bid to delay the legislation and perhaps influence its contents.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Dec-09/156376-enforcement-of-new-smoking-ban-takes-center-stage.ashx#axzz1fzQqRsQB
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