The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly enacted an ordinance on Wednesday that strengthens measures against passive smoking.
The ordinance is stricter than a similar bill being considered by the Diet, and will be implemented in stages. It will come into full effect by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The bill to revise the Health Promotion Law, under deliberation at the current session of the Diet, permits smoking at existing small-scale eating and drinking establishments run by individuals or others as long as the customer seating area is 100 square meters or less.
In contrast, the ordinance bans smoking at all such establishments with at least one employee, regardless of size. According to the metropolitan government, 84 percent of eating and drinking establishments in Tokyo will be subject to the ban. The ordinance permits the existence of smoking rooms.
Moreover, while the bill permits the designation of outside smoking areas at kindergartens, day cares, and elementary, junior high and high schools, the ordinance prohibits smoking on their premises. Under the ordinance, fines of 50,000 yen or less will be issued to facility managers who do not comply with improvement orders and smokers who smoke in prohibited areas.
The ordinance's provisions on heat-not-burn tobacco products align with those stipulated in the Diet bill. Under the ordinance, such products are not subject to penalties for the time being. Customers may also use them in smoking rooms exclusive to heat-not-burn tobacco in which the consumption of food and drink is also allowed.
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