Beijing Will Publish Names of Those Who Repeatedly Ignore New Smoking Ban

Officials in Beijing, China said they will make public the names of people who repeatedly ignore the city’s tough new smoking ban. Smoking will be outlawed in public places, including restaurants, offices and public transportation, NBC News reports.

China is the world’s biggest tobacco producer and consumer, the article notes. An estimated 28 percent of China’s population—more than 300 million people—smoke, including more than half of all men. At least one million deaths in China are caused by smoking each year.

More than 20 million residents will now be protected from exposure to tobacco and tobacco smoke by Beijing’s law, according to a statement by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Under the new law, offenders will have to pay fines of up to 200 yuan ($32). Under the previous law, which was rarely enforced, the penalty was 10 yuan ($1.60). A person who is caught breaking the law three times will be named on a government website, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

“If we can show a very good law can be implemented in Beijing, we believe it will have an impact on how the national law will be formulated because then there will be no reason why we can’t do it in other places,” said Dr Bernhard Schwartländer, WHO Representative in China.

According to WHO, the law also bans tobacco advertising in mass media, public places, outdoors and on public transport. Thousands of health inspectors have been trained to inspect venues and issue fines, and thousands of volunteers will also help enforce the law.