Phoebe's paper
After a series of raging debates, the new Tobacco Hazard Prevention and Control Act has been implemented officially as of January 1, 2009. When the said policy was carried out , it caused dismay among the smoking population in Taiwan.Surprisingly, this piece of legislation is not of recent origin as the Tobacco Hazard Prevention and Control Act was legislated as early as 1997 but efforts to implement the said provisions of the law has been in vain.
Albeit strong opposition, the government has expressed concerns about creating a smoke-free environment by creating safeguards and rules on the law.
Taiwan’s version of this law was inspired by Singaporean Government which pioneered on such environmental reforms as early as the 1970’s. However, it was not until the 1990’s when the law gained acceptance among the Singaporean populace.
Benchmarking from the Singaporean version of the law, the Taiwanese government as early as December 1, 1986 has been aiming to be a smoke-free environment like the former. The Singaporean anti-smoking law provides that it strictly forbids nationals smoking in public places such as buildings, transportation, etc. Those who violate the law would be subjected to hefty fines as high as SGD 2,000 (equivalent to around NTD 45,000). This is the measure that the Taiwanese Government aims to emulate in practice. In addition, harsher measures were also in place such as revocation of the admissibility qualifications in school.
posted by purplepod @ 5:49 PM
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