2010-05-31 22:00

BEIJING - Despite various efforts and activities in China to observe this year's World No Tobacco Day on Monday, legal experts say the country is still a long way from effective national legislation on tobacco control.

China signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003, which calls for the signatories to adopt and implement effective legislative measures in tobacco control.

The FCTC came into effect in China in 2006.

However, current local regulations in China are insufficient to protect people from exposure to tobacco smoke in public places, said Yang Gonghuan, deputy director of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

China has been enforcing the Tobacco Monopoly Law from 1991, but the law only regulates the production and monopoly sale of tobacco. Other measures, such as bans on tobacco use in public places, are included in local regulations.

Such regulations, however, only listed certain places where tobacco use is prohibited, but left exceptions for setting smoking areas or smoking rooms, Yang said.

These exceptions made it difficult to protect people from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, Yang said.

In Beijing, a smoking ban only holds in places such as hospitals, schools, theaters, museums, libraries, and public transport. Smoking areas are allowed in restaurants, Internet cafes, parks and waiting rooms of airports and railway stations.

Nonetheless, such regulations were poorly implemented, because there was no clear provision in the regulations on the enforcement body and mechanism of the ban, Yang said.

Moreover, little public awareness, insufficient government support and opposition from some interest parties had posed obstacles for national legislation, Xie Zhiyong, executive director of the Health Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said.

Another difficulty was that many legal experts had little knowledge of the smoking control laws, and that would make legislation less practicable, Xie said.

A non-government working group for tobacco control legislation was founded Saturday in Beijing.

The group consists of 59 legal experts from universities and administrative organs.

Legal experts have just begun to examine tobacco control legislation, Xie said.

Xie called for a detailed law on tobacco control in China, which included clear provisions on the enforcement body, methods and an appraisal system for the enforcement.

The legislation would be not only for implementing the FCTC, but also for the health of Chinese people, Xie said.

Professor Cui Xiaobo, of the Capital Medical University, said it would be unrealistic for China to implement the FCTC without national legislation on tobacco control.

Many countries had recognized that tobacco control brought social and economic benefits, but some people in China still argued such controls might affect the tobacco industry and the economy, Cui said.