UAE Proposing Total Ban On Smoking In Public Spaces By End Of 2016
UAE is deciding to ban smoking soon in all public places. People will be forbidden to smoke in public areas. This would mean that smokers will only be allowed to take a puff in private areas like their homes.
This ban indicates that all areas designated for smoking in restaurants and offices etc. are to be abolished as well.
The National Tobacco Control Committee is deciding to make a proposal in order to amend the federal anti tobacco law. Dr Al Maidour, a member of the committee and the head of Tobacco Control Programme at the Ministry of Health and Prevention, said that, “They are pushing us to change the law from having designated smoking areas to 100 percent smoke free areas in public places.” She further said that UAE, as a member of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, is in the red zone with regard to smoking.
The law prohibits smoking in public areas as well as in the presence of children, especially those aged under 12 in cars, otherwise there will be a fine of AED500.
