South Africa’s new smoking laws will see many people fined or spending time in jail for smoking in prohibited areas.
An explanatory note on the proposed laws was issued in October when the Department of Health gave a notice that a bill will be tabled in parliament before the end of the year.
The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill was tabled last Friday and will proceed through the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces and ultimately land on the president’s table for approval.
The bill predominantly bans smoking in public places and outdoor areas prescribed by the health minister and includes some changes to the advertising and packaging of tobacco products.
The regulations that control electronic nicotine delivery systems and matters within the sector area a controversial aspect of the bill, which received a backlash from the burgeoning vape and cigarettes industries.
The bill will start a process of getting proposed changes for smokers and the tobacco industry into law. The laws empower the minister to make a host of regulations:
- The distance within which smoking is prohibited from an operable window or ventilation inlet of or entrance and exit of an enclosed public place or workplace
- The prohibition on smoking in or at an outdoor public place or workplace, or such portion of an outdoor public place or workplace, where smoking may pose a health, fire, or other hazards
- The actions that must be taken by the owner or person in control of public places to prevent smoking
- Any sale restrictions or additional requirements to prevent access to a relevant product or a related product by children
- Various measures to regulate and control the packaging and display of tobacco products; and how these regulations apply to electronic systems – vapes/e-cigarettes.
Those found breaking the proposed law risk being fined, imprisoned, or both based on which regulation is violated. The prison sentence will range between three months for smoking in an area that is prohibited and 20 years to those selling tobacco products to children.
The bill lays out a long list of areas that will be regarded as no-smoking zones, with violators at risk of a fine or time in jail. These include:
- An enclosed public place, enclosed workplace, or in or on a public conveyance
- Any space that is within a prescribed distance from an operable window or ventilation inlet of an entrance or exit of a place where smoking is prohibited
- Any motor vehicle or a private enclosed space when a non-smoker or a child is present
- An enclosed common area of a multi-unit residence
- A private dwelling or elsewhere on the premises of a multi-unit residence if smoking interferes unreasonably with the enjoyment of other persons lawfully on the premises, pursuant to the Sectional Titles Act and the Sectional Titles Schemes Management Act, 2011 (Act No. 8 of 2011)
- A private dwelling, if that private dwelling is used for any commercial childcare activity, child stay, for schooling, tutoring, domestic employment or otherwise as a workplace
The minister may also, at their discretion, ban smoking in any prescribed outdoor public place or workplace, or such portion of an outdoor public place or workplace as may be prescribed, where smoking may pose a health, fire, or other hazards; or any other place where the minister considers it appropriate to prohibit smoking in order to reduce or prevent the public’s exposure to smoking.
As per the bill, it is up to the owners or people in control to ensure that the bill is adhered to by displaying signs which indicate that smoking is not allowed.
Employers, meanwhile, must ensure that:
- Employees may object to any person smoking in the workplace in contravention of this act without retaliation of any kind
- Employees who do not want to be exposed to smoke at the workplace are not so exposed; and it is not a condition of employment, expressly or implied, that any employee is required to work in any outdoor portion of the workplace where smoking is permitted.
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