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Smoking laws operative on October 1
Cape Times
2000-08-25

South Africa's controversial and long-awaited tobacco law – the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act – comes into effect on October 1 this year, banning smoking in public places.

South Africa's controversial and long-awaited tobacco law – the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act – comes into effect on October 1 this year, banning smoking in public places. 

Patricia Lambert, legal adviser to Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, confirmed on 23/8 that the legislation would definitely be promulgated on October 1. While some of it will come into effect immediately, companies will be given three months in which to make the necessary alterations to buildings to provide areas with separate ventilation where smokers can get their nicotine fix. The anti-tobacco lobby is adamant that companies that do not have money to provide adequate ventilation for smokers can ask their employees to smoke outdoors, but there is no excuse for not implementing the new regulations.  

The regulations stipulate that: 

Restaurants, pubs and shebeens will only be allowed to have a smoking area equivalent to a quarter of their total floor space. Restaurants with 35 seats or less must become non-smoking restaurants, although they are allowed to have a smoking area if the owner can afford to erect a partition.  A solid partition and an entrance door must separate smoking areas. Ventilation must be designed in such a way that the air from the smoking zone is expelled and not recirculated with the air in non-smoking areas of the building. 

Any public place can choose to prohibit smoking entirely.  

Tobacco advertising is also banned, although existing sponsorships will be allowed to run through until April next year.  

Tshabalala-Msimang – who received an international award early in August for her department's fight against the tobacco industry – has come in for criticism over the laws. Among her detractors is the Freedom of Commercial Speech Trust, which has criticized the legislation's definition of advertising as any communication intended to promote a tobacco product as too vague. However, the public apparently support the legislation: a 1998 survey revealed that 90% of non-smokers and 70% of smokers said they supported a ban on smoking in public places. 
(Source: The Cape Times, 24/8/00)

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