Date:2021-3-12 11:21:15 Clicks:913 【Font Size:
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A bar was convicted and fined HK$2,000 on 2 March 2021 for aiding and abetting two customers to smoke a waterpipe in a statutory no-smoking area. A staff member of the bar was involved and also fined HK$1,500 for the same offence. This is the first conviction for aiding and abetting smoking offences.
Waterpipes belong to pipe tobacco, and are regulated under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371). Any person who smokes or carries a lighted cigarette, cigar or pipe in statutory no-smoking areas, such as indoor area of restaurants, indoor workplaces and some outdoor public places, is liable to a fixed penalty of HK$1,500. Assisting anyone in breaching the smoking ban is also unlawful. According to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221), it is an offence for any person to aid, abet, counsel or procure the commission by another person of any offence.
The Tobacco and Alcohol Control Office (TACO) of the Department of Health conducted a covert operation at a bar in Central on 23 June 2020. Two customers were found smoking a waterpipe in the statutory no-smoking area of the bar at the time of the covert operation. They were each fined HK$1,500 for smoking offences. The bar and a staff member aided and abetted the smoking offences by providing waterpipe apparatus and tobacco for smoking in the bar, and was respectively fined HK$2,000 and $1,500. The TACO reiterated that venue managers of statutory no-smoking areas are empowered by the law to stop smoking offences, and that they should protect their staff and customers from the harms of secondhand smoke.
In addition to waterpipes, use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in statutory no-smoking areas is also unlawful. To fill the loophole and to ensure a smoke-free environment is provided to the customers, the Government should make venue manager bear legal responsibility for smoking offences in their venue. To more comprehensively protect the public from harms of secondhand smoke, COSH advocates the Government to extend the no-smoking areas to more public and private places such as private cars and homes.