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Source:
www.nea.gov.sg |
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Preparations Underway for Next Month¨s Smoking
Ban At Food Shops And Hawker Centres |
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Announced by the Ministry of the Environment
and Water Resources and the National Environment Agency last year, the
smoking ban has been extended to include hawker centres and foodshops
like coffeeshops, restaurants and cafes this year. |
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Under this new regulation, smoking is banned
within the indoor refreshment areas (IRA) of all foodshops. |
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However, operators of these establishments
can choose to designate up to 20% of the floor area in their outdoor
refreshment areas (ORA) as a smoking corner upon NEA¨s approval. |
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As for hawker centres, they may set aside up
to 20% of the seating capacity in the ORA as a smoking corner. For
hawker centres that do not have ORA, up to 10% of the seating capacity
of their IRA can be designated as a smoking corner. |
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Smoking ban will be extended to hawker
centres, coffeeshops and cafes come 1st July. To protect patrons from
second-hand smoke, foodshop operators can set up smoking corners for
those who want to light up. To date, close to half of the affected
outlets have decided to set up smoking corners in their outdoor
refreshment areas. |
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Smoking corners for some, others go
smoke-free |
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Since the announcement of the ban in
August last year, NEA has arranged meetings and dialogue sessions to
explain implementation details to operators. In the past few months,
NEA officers have been visiting operators on site to advise on the
setting up of smoking corners. In addition, publicity posters have
since been distributed to operators for display at their outlets to
raise public awareness of the ban. |
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Some 7400 food outlets will be affected
by the smoking ban, with around 4000 of them having ORA. More than
1600 of these outlets have since applied for smoking corners while
close to 200 will be smoke-free. 75 hawker centres will also have
smoking corners while 42 will go smoke-free. |
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Foodshop operators who wish to have
their smoking corners ready by 1st July should submit their
applications soon, as smoking will only be allowed in approved
smoking corners once the ban comes into effect. Foodshop operators
who need further assistance can contact the NEA Call Centre at
1800-CALL-NEA (1800-2255 632). |
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What the public can expect |
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All foodshops and hawker centres are
required to display signage to inform patrons that smoking is
prohibited within the premises. For areas designated as smoking
corners, they must be clearly demarcated with visual aids such as
floor markings, physical partitions or coloured tables/cloth. |
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NEA will work with the management of
these eating places to ensure the ban is adhered to. The public can
also play their part by informing the respective operators if they
see smokers flouting the ban. They can also call our Call Centre to
report such incidents. |
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There will be inspection rounds and
blitzes, if necessary, to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke
in these premises. |
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Source:
www.nea.gov.sg Press Release 1
Jun 2006 |
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Related Articles: |
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Smoking
ban in eating places starts today (1 Jul 2006) |
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Smoking ban to cover more public places from 1 Oct 2005 |
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FrontPage Edition: Sat 17 June 2006
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