AL to meet casino reps, labour unions on tobacco bill

A sub-committee head of the city’s Legislative Assembly, Chan Chak Mo, said the Assembly so far held “no particular ground” on the amendment to the tobacco control regime that proposes a full smoking ban in casinos, and is going to meet labour unions and casino operators to discuss the bill in mid-November. Mr. Chan, who heads the Assembly’s second standing committee, said they have scheduled to meet the city’s major labour unions and the casino operators’ representatives on November 12 or 13 to talk over their opinions on the amendment to the tobacco control regime, known as law No.5/2011. The amendment spells out a full smoking ban on gaming floors including VIP rooms, the elimination of smoking lounges on mass gaming floors as well as a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes. The draft bill for the amendment went through its first reading in July this year. “Our committee member Si Ka Lon did support the idea that the smoking lounges should be retained in casinos and that there should be more consideration about the impact of a smoking ban on gaming revenue…” Mr. Chan told reporters yesterday following a closed-door meeting amongst committee members. “Now we [the committee] don’t really have any particular ground on the subject. And with the opinions we have at hand, we’ll conclude them and communicate them to the government,” Mr. Chan added. The second standing committee president said casino operators will make a presentation to his team regarding the survey they have done on smoking during the scheduled meeting in mid-November. “The legislators would like to ask them how the opinions are gathered for the survey and how the samples are collected. We hope that we can get more technical data from them [the casino operators],” said Mr. Chan. Since the Assembly passed the first reading on the tobacco control amendment bill it has received over 30 written opinions from the city’s labour associations, trade chambers, casino companies and individuals over the proposed legal changes, Mr. Chan told reporters. Supporting smoking lounges Only three of these 30-odd opinions, all filed by individuals, are supportive of a full smoking ban in casinos, according to Mr. Chan; most others, filed by individuals and trade chambers, support the keeping of smoking lounges in casinos, the legislator said. The setting up of the smoking lounges in casinos complies with a new smoking ban rule that came into force on October 6 last year stipulating that smoking is only allowed on casino main floors in enclosed smoking lounges that do not contain any gaming facilities. But smoking is still allowed in VIP rooms. Mr. Chan said that aside from meeting with the labour unions and gaming companies, the Assembly will also meet with the tobacco trade chambers, duty free shop representatives and small and medium enterprises associations to gauge their opinions on the proposed changes to the tobacco control regime. When asked about the timeframe for a final approval of the bill, the sub-committee head said he was still hopeful that it could be passed before the Assembly ends the legislative year in August 2016.

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