Experts credit progress but urge complete ban on tobacco ads

Experts said Tuesday that the draft amendment to the Advertisement Law, which is currently under review, failed to ban tobacco advertising across the board.

Despite improvements in the second draft, companies will still be able to advertise their products in tobacco shops, which is against the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Wu Yiqun, executive vice director of ThinkTank, the anti-smoking advocacy group, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"The only motive for advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of the tobacco industry is to sell more products, which spells disaster for public health," she said.

The draft, which was submitted to the ongoing bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, for review on Monday, banned tobacco advertising at public venues, rather than listing the specific venues where advertizing would be banned, as was absent in the previous edition.

The second draft, after advice on the first edition, also banned brands, trademark, packaging, design and content related to tobacco products from other products, services and public service announcements.

Vice director of the NPC Law Committee, An Jian, said that according to the provisions, all forms of tobacco adverts would be banned except for those displayed in tobacco product shops.

However, Wu argued that tobacco shops were public places, thus, should be free from tobacco advertising.

Director of the Pioneers for Health Consultancy Center -- based in Yunnan, China's major tobacco production province -- Li Xiaoliang, said there was a tobacco shop every 200 meters along the streets of the provincial capital Kunming, and allowing advertisements in tobacco shops would create a large loophole for tobacco producers.

At the press conference, ThinkTank released its annual report on China's smoking control measures, recognizing efforts made in 2014, including legislation.

In January, a circular issued by the relevant authorities required officials to take the lead and to not smoke in public. In November, the Beijing Municipality legislature passed an smoking bill aiming to ban smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces as well as on public transportation. It is scheduled to take effect in June 2015.

Also in November, China's State Council's legislative affairs office released a draft regulation for public comment, which would ban smoking in all kinds of indoor public places and outdoor space such as schools and hospitals; all forms of tobacco advertising; sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products; and smoking scenes involving minors in film and on TV.

Deputy head of the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, Yang Gonghuan, said that since ratifying the FCTC in 2005, China had failed to pass a national-level regulation on tobacco control.

She said the draft for public comments was an "epoch-making breakthrough," but enforcement, in a country with 300 million smokers, would be a "challenge".

Yang warned of the influence wielded by large tobacco producers and the government's dependence on taxes from the tobacco industry may hamper tobacco control efforts.