City braces for new smoking regulations

City braces for new smoking regulations

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Owners of enclosed buildings will soon be required to physically
separate smoking places from non-smoking areas and must equip
smoking rooms with exhaust fans, ash trays and warnings on the
dangers of smoking to health, a gubernatorial regulation states.

Smoking is strongly linked to the development of conditions
such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and infertility.

Gubernatorial regulation No. 72, dated June 20, 2005, was
issued as an implementing regulation of bylaw No. 2/2005 on air
pollution control, which will come into effect in February 2006.

Under the bylaw, owners of enclosed buildings and other public
places that fail to comply with the regulation will be fined up
to Rp 50 million (US$4,850) or jailed for up to six months.

The regulations are mostly addressed at those responsible for
smoke-free zones -- owners of buildings, offices, schools, houses
of worship and drivers of public transportation vehicles.

Also included on the list of public places are offices -- both
government and private -- bus terminals, train stations, malls,
airports, shopping centers, hotels and restaurants.

Public transportation vehicles, meanwhile, include trains,
taxis, buses, busway, public minivans and kancil.

According to the head of the City's clean air campaign Yusiono
Anwar Supalal, building owners, for example, may declare entire
buildings as smoke-free places or they may designate special
smoking places within their buildings.

The regulation also requires people responsible for public
places to follow up on any complaints on violations of the smoke-
free zones in their respective areas.

Heads of work places are required to give warnings to
employees who violate no smoking zones.

Meanwhile, drivers of public transportation vehicles are also
required to warn smoking passengers, but passengers may report
smoking drivers to officials of the City Transportation Agency,
who are required to take measures against such drivers.

Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control was approved by the
City Council in early February and will be put into effect in mid
February next year.

The bylaw also emphasizes the importance of curbing vehicular
emissions, which contribute to over 70 percent of Jakarta's air
pollution.

The ruling includes requirements for all public vehicles to
convert to using natural gas, as well as compulsory emission
tests for all vehicles.

According to Article 40 of Bylaw No. 2/2005, civil servant
investigators, in cooperation with City Police, will carry out
investigations against those who violate smoke-free zones.

Executives of several building management companies said on
Wednesday that they had not received any information about the
new regulations, but said that they had no problem in banning
smoking in public spaces in their building.

Maintenance manager of PT Sarinah on Jl. M. H. Thamrin in
Central Jakarta Suhodo, for example, said that the most important
thing was that the administration was consistent in enforcing the
regulation.

"For us, there is no problem, but we hope that the enforcement
would be carried out fairly in all buildings in the city. If we
implement a smoking ban, while others do not, our mall will have
no visitors or tenants," he said.