A law prohibiting smoking at home will come into effect on Aug 20 in a bid to reduce deaths caused by second-hand smoke.
Smokers will be given 90 days to refrain from the habit, which puts relatives living under the same roof at serious health risk, according to the 2019 Family Development and Protection Act announced in the Royal Gazette.
Those who violate the law can be tried in either the juvenile or criminal courts. While no penalty has been fixed yet, the court can order violators to stop smoking in the house and/or undertake a course to quit smoking. It is not clear how the law will be enforced.
The announcement comes as anti-tobacco campaigners step up efforts to make the home environment free of cigarette and electronic cigarette smoke.
“Last year 8,278 people died of second-hand smoke,” said Ronnachai Khongsakon, chief of the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre.
The study found that nearly 33% of smokers puff away in their homes and that almost 74% smoke every day.
Last year, a total of 54,512 people died from diseases caused by smoking, according to the Ministry of Public Health.