Representatives of an association of restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and stores gathered yesterday to protest newly proposed amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Control Act (菸害防制法).
The amendments received preliminary approval at a hearing of the legislature's Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Restaurant and store owners are angered by the stipulation that smoking should be banned inside workplaces and public areas where at least three people are present.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Robert Lo (
"We are not saying smoking is good, we just hope that the law is reasonable," Lo said. "Of course, minors should not be smoking. Convenience stores should better enforce such a regulation, but meanwhile, restaurant and cafe owners should be able to choose whether or not they want their business to be smoke-free."
The association said that Articles 6 and 10 of proposed amendments stipulates that warnings signs and posters should be displayed outside of restaurants and stores telling the public about the hazards of smoking. The posters depict the bottom half of the face of Caucasian man and his neck, with a cancerous throat tumor.
Jackie Li (
"Children who go to convenience stores will be scared by those posters. Customers who come to my restaurant to dine will lose their appetites because of these posters," Li said. "How would five-star hotels look with such an image at the front door?"
Amy Yen (
Li said that banning smoking in indoor areas would only drive people to smoke on the streets and that the law should allow a "grace period" for businesses to adjust their policies.
Participants at a hearing on Wednesday agreed that Taiwan would remain in a "grace period" until 2008, during which it does not have to fully comply with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requirements.
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