KUALA SELANGOR — A total of 8,500 premises nationwide have received warnings for violating the Smoking Products Control Act for Public Health 2024 (Act 852) which came into force on Oct 1.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said 238 enforcement operations were held over the first five days of the month involving 4,481 ministry staff.
Some enforcement decisions did not involve penalties but only warnings with explanations given to promote awareness on the new law, he said.
“However, throughout the operation, enforcement action was taken against 12 smokers for the offence of smoking in prohibited places.
“For the offence of smoking, we will take strict action according to the existing rules,” Bernama reported him saying at a press conference after a campaign here to promote smoke-free premises in Selangor, today.
Act 852 aims to reduce harm caused by smoking and the use of other tobacco products including electronic cigarettes or vape, especially among the young.
The ministry has said that since it is a new law, it will give grace periods or a phased enforcement for certain offences involving registration, labelling and packaging of smoking products to give the industry time to adjust.
Full enforcement on mandatory registration of smoking products and regulations on display at point of sale will begin April 1, next year, while rules on packaging and labelling will be enforced on a product-by-product basis starting October 1, 2025.
However, enforcement with penalties began immediately since Act 852 came into force five days ago for offences that involve targeting smoking products to children.
These include the sale of products in the form of toys or games to make them attractive to minors.
Dzulkefly said two days ago that the ministry expects the smoking prevalence rate to drop to below 15% with the new law. It is currently at 19%, which is a decrease from 21.3% in 2019.
However, despite the downward trend, the ministry has also noticed a shift in smoking habits to e-cigarettes and vapes, he added. – October 6, 2024