Japan: LDP Groups Outlines Plans for Tighter Smoking Laws Ahead of 2020 Games

Source from:  Japan Times 09/25/2015

A group of lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has outlined a bill to ban or segregate smoking in public places ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The group, headed by Akiko Santo, a former vice president of the House of Councilors, plans to submit the bill during a possible extraordinary session of the Diet in autumn.

According to the outline, the bill will call for a ban on smoking in schools and medical facilities, and force smoking areas to be separated in hotels and restaurants.

The LDP group also cited the need to consider penalties for noncompliance.

Legal smoking restrictions with penalties have been introduced in the countries that hosted the Olympics in and after 2008, namely China, Canada, Britain and Russia, as well as two hosts of forthcoming Games — Brazil and South Korea, according to the group.

The LDP group plans to finalize the bill in collaboration with a suprapartisan lawmakers' group to create a law to prevent passive smoking, sometimes called secondhand smoke. Enditem