《TAIPEI TIMES》 New Taipei City bans smoking on some ‘qilou’

By Ho Yu-hua and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Smoking has been banned in the covered corridors in front of major convenience stores and cafes in New Taipei City, effective immediately, the city government announced yesterday.

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The ban would initially apply to the corridors, or qilou （騎樓）, of eight franchise stores or coffee shops — 7-Eleven, OK Mart, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, Simple Mart, Starbucks Coffee, 85°C and Louisa Coffee — totaling about 2,600 locations, the New Taipei City Department of Health said.

Smokers are to be given a grace period until Sept. 1, after which offenders could be fined up to NT$10,000, it added.

Although smoking rates among adults and teenagers in the city have fallen and are lower than the national average, the rate of exposure to secondhand smoke in outdoor public spaces is still above the national average, department Director Chen Jun-chiu （陳潤秋） said.

The exposure rate to secondhand smoke in public places was 57.3 percent in 2017, but dropped to 53.3 percent after the city last year banned smoking in the covered corridors in front of medical clinics, she said.

Although the corridors are not designated non-smoking areas by law, the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act （菸害防制法） gives local authorities the power to designate such areas, she said.

The department would also communicate with businesses that have set up seating areas outside their shops to designate those areas as non-smoking zones, she said.

If no measures are taken, smoking could kill more than 8 million people per year by 2030, Chen said, citing WHO estimates.

Smoking is now prohibited in about 8,700 locations in the city, including parks, schools at and below the high-school level and bus stops, department official Lin Hui-ping （林惠萍） said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES

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