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· Smokefree Policies
· Dining/Entertainment
non-USA, by Country
· Hong Kong
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Jump to full article: South China Morning Post, 2009-06-28
Author: Danny Mok and Dan Kadison
Intro: Come Wednesday, smoking will be banned in all indoor areas at workplaces and in public spaces - and bars, nightclubs, clubs, saunas, massage parlours and mahjong parlours will no longer be exempt.
Many such venues are ready to comply, but several establishments could be a bit hazy when it comes to the spirit of the law, the Sunday Morning Post has learned.
Several venue owners and members of an association said they feared business would plummet as a result of the ban, and they would take a fairly lenient enforcement stance.
Chin Chun-wing, vice-chairman of the Bar and Club Association, a group which represents about 200 bars in the city, said he believed members would lose 50 per cent of their business as a result of the ban, the financial downturn and swine flu.
"We have to remove ashtrays, but honestly, if we find customers smoking, we can't do much as business has already been very bad. We can't stop them smoking and drive them out of there. We won't do anything. We don't want to annoy smoking customers, especially those drunken ones, who might react very unexpectedly," Mr Chin said.
Mr Chin did say, however, that his group members would let offenders know about the smoking ban.
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