A RECENT draft proposing amendments to Shenzhen’s tobacco-control regulations has triggered heated discussion. The draft was submitted to the city’s legislature for deliberation Tuesday, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

One of the controversies over the draft involves the inclusion of the city’s tobacco monopoly administration in the municipal tobacco control leading group, which is responsible for the planning, supervision and evaluation of tobacco control work, according to the daily.

In this regard, the legislation affairs committee of the Municipal People’s Congress explained that the decision is based on two reasons. Firstly, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration is a member of the country’s tobacco-control committee according to a document published by the State Council.

As an administrative law enforcement agency, the tobacco monopoly administration plays an important role in controlling the sale of tobacco products. Thus, it is justified to include the city’s tobacco monopoly administration into the municipal tobacco control leading group.

However, citizens and scholars expressed doubts concerning whether the profit-oriented administration would be effective in tobacco control.

Xie Zhiyong, a professor with China University of Political Science and Law, said the biggest obstacle to tobacco control in China mainly comes from the vested interests of tobacco companies, which use GDP and taxes as excuses to affect tobacco control work.

According to Wu Yiqun, a researcher with Think Tank Research Center for Health Development, the tobacco monopoly administration is also a tobacco company, which will inevitably deter the effective implementation of nonsmoking regulations.

Wu also said that it not only goes against the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to include the administration in the tobacco control group, but also is like “asking a tiger for its skin” to pin hope on the administration to control smoking.

While the current tobacco-control regulations stipulate that operators of nonsmoking venues who fail to fulfill their duties will receive a warning and be fined 30,000 yuan (US$4,358) if they do not make corrections within a limited time period, the latest draft amendment specifies that operators will be fined between 5,000 and 30,000 yuan if found violating the regulations for a second time within 24 months.

The legislation affairs committee explained that as the ability and responsibility of venue operators to perform tobacco control duties are not fully compatible, it is suggested that the corresponding legal responsibilities should be adjusted according to different situations.

According to a law enforcement officer who refused to be identified, the modifications raise the cost of law enforcement for tobacco control and lower the cost of violating regulations.

(Liu Wenjin)