News

Smoking Ban to be extended to hawker centres, coffeeshops, and entertainment outlets 
Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2005 - 12:00 AM

The National Environment Agency (NEA) will be extending the smoking ban to hawker centers, coffeeshops and entertainment outlets. The ban at hawker centers and coffeeshops will take effect from 1 July 2006, while the ban at entertainment outlets will start on 1 July 2007.

The press release states:

Smoking Ban to be extended to hawker centres, coffeeshops, and entertainment outlets
NEWS RELEASE NO: 32/2005
DATE OF ISSUE: 2 AUGUST 2005

The National Environment Agency (NEA) will be extending the smoking ban to hawker centers, coffeeshops and entertainment outlets. The ban at hawker centers and coffeeshops will take effect from 1 July 2006, while the ban at entertainment outlets will start on 1 July 2007.

Results of Public Consultation

2 Between Jan and Jun 2005, NEA conducted extensive consultations with the public and stakeholders to better understand their concerns and to seek their views on possible mitigating measures. The results of the consultations showed strong public support for the extension of smoking ban to these places. A similar survey by the Health Promotion Board conducted earlier also showed strong support for the smoking ban.

Extension of Smoking Ban

3 The smoking ban at coffee shops will come into effect on 1 Jul 06. Smoking will be banned within the indoor refreshment areas (IRA) of coffeeshops. However, coffeeshop operators may designate up to 20% of the seats in their outdoor refreshment area (ORA) as a smoking corner

4 Similarly, the smoking ban will be extended to hawker centres from 1 July 2006. 20% of the ORA seats may be set aside as a smoking corner. For those hawker centres that do not have ORA, 10% of the IRA can also be designated as smoking corner. Hawker Associations will decide on whether to provide smoking corners and where they are to be located.

5 For entertainment outlets, the smoking ban will be implemented on 1 July 2007. Operators of entertainment outlets may set up a designated smoking room, which must be separately ventilated, within their IRA. The area of the smoking room shall be no more than 10% of the IRA. Those with ORA may designate up to 20% of the seats in the ORA for smoking.

6 A summary of the extension of smoking ban to coffeeshops, hawker centers and entertainment outlets is as follows:

Areas		Implementation Date	Mitigation Measures
Hawker Centres	Indoor Refreshment Area (IRA)	Jul 06	If no ORA, allow smoking corner (less than or equal to 10% of IRA seating capacity)
	Outdoor Refreshment Area (ORA)	Jul 06	Allow smoking corner (less than or equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)
Coffeeshops	IRA	Jul 06	Nil
	ORA	Jul 06	Allow smoking corner (less than or equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)
Entertainment Outlets	IRA	Jul 07	Allow smoking room with separate ventilation (less than or equal to 10% of IRA)
	ORA	Jul 07	Allow smoking corner (less than or equal to 20% of ORA seating capacity)

7 NEA will notify licensees of the affected premises of the implementation of the smoking ban. Licensees who wish to make enquiries may contact the NEA Hotline at 1800-CALL-NEA (6225 5632).

Reminder on Extension of Smoking Ban

8 The NEA would like to remind the public that from 1st October 2005, the ban on smoking under the Smoking (Prohibition In Certain Places) Act will be extended to the following places:

• Bus interchanges/stops;


• Public toilets;


• Public swimming complexes;


• Open air stadia; and


• Community centre/clubs.

This was announced by the Minister for the Environment & Water Resources in Mar 2005.