28,835 fined since anti-smoking law implemented

Following the implementation of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Law in January 2012, law enforcement inspectors have performed a total of 874,876 inspections at several kinds of establishments, which have resulted in the identification of 28,835 people who were caught smoking in forbidden areas.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the Health Bureau, a daily average of 653 inspections in commercial establishments had been undertaken up until August.
Only this year, 188,652 inspections were carried out, raising the daily average figure to 776 inspections.
The services also registered a total number of 4,683 accusations, including 4,650 cases of people smoking in prohibited places, 27 cases of illegalities encountered in the labelling of tobacco products, and 6 instances in which the sellers were not obeying the law, making the tobacco products accessible to any buyer.
Among the cases of people found smoking in forbidden places this year, the figures presented by the Health Bureau show that 92.7 percent (4,312) were men and the majority (62.3 pct) comprised of Macau residents. The fines issued to tourists totalled1,538 cases (33.1 pct), and only 214 cases were registered among non-resident workers (4.6 pct).
The top locations at which the offences occurred were cybercafés, registering 940 cases (20.1 pct), followed by parks, gardens, and recreational areas with 589 registered cases, and then by commercial stores and shopping centers with 561 cases.
In terms of geographic distribution, the Tap Seac area was the location where the largest number of accusations were issued (32.6%). In 206 cases, it was necessary to request the intervention of security forces.
Regarding enforcement in casinos, from the beginning of the year until August 31st, a total of 301 inspections had been jointly carried out between the Health and the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureaus. These operations resulted in 298 accusations of illegal smoking.  92.6 pct of these were males and 80.2 pct tourists.
The Office for Prevention and Tobacco Control attended to 2,438 calls, from which 648 were requests for clarification,  while 1,685 of these calls were related to complaints and 210 were suggestions made by citizens.
This August, the Health Bureau mapped 118 places with a higher incidence of smoking offences, and conducted 241 inspections on the referred sites that resulted in 110 accusations. RM