The Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, which was approved by Cabinet last year, is currently with the National Assembly Portfolio Committee on Health. The Bill, if it remains unchanged from that introduced to Parliament in December 2022, will result in significant challenges for many hospitality establishments and draconian penalties for non-compliance –
Some of the penalties for non-compliance include –
- An owner or person in control of a public place who fails to ensure that a person does not smoke where it is prohibited, could be imprisoned for up to five years and / or fined.
- The owner or person in charge of a public place can be fined and / or imprisoned for up to six months if he/she does not display the necessary signs around smoking prohibitions in that public place.
- If an employer fails to protect their employees against smoke in the workplace, he or she can be imprisoned for up to ten years and / or be fined.
The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill proposes:
- Smoking/vaping will no longer be permitted in designated indoor areas or certain enclosed outdoor areas. All existing designated indoor smoking areas, be they in accommodation establishments, restaurants, pubs, taverns, casino’s, conference centres or function facilities etc, will be required to close
- The closure of smoking areas such as vape lounges; hookah lounges; cigar bars / lounges
“enclosed” is defined as “any space covered by a roof or enclosed by one or more walls or sides, regardless of the type of material used for the roof, wall, or sides, and regardless of whether the structure is temporary or permanent”
- Accommodation establishments will no longer be permitted to offer smoking bedrooms
- No smoking/vaping will be permitted in any space that is within the prescribed distance of an operable window, ventilation inlet, entrance or exit of a place where smoking is prohibited. The prescribed distance is likely to be around 10 metres. As a result smokers will be required to stand outdoors when smoking which clearly has safety implications
- No smoking will be permitted in any motor vehicle when a non-smoker or a child is present. This will include guest transport
- Designated indoor smoking areas for employees will no longer be permitted
- Employees may decline to work in outdoor areas where smoking is permitted
- Management and employers will be responsible for policing the legislation
- Establishments will be required to display various prescribed signs (to be published in future Regulations)
- No point of sale advertising will be permitted and tobacco products on sale may not be visible to the public
The statute will, in addition to the restrictions set out above, result in significant costs for those hospitality establishments required to re-integrate existing indoor designated smoking areas and for those accommodation establishments who will need to revamp/sanitise existing smoking bedrooms.
Once the Portfolio Committee deliberations have concluded, it is likely that the Bill will be published for public comment. Fedhasa will provide the details for public comment once they are made public.
