The Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday passed a government-initiated bill to amend the Tobacco Prevention and Control Law, banning all legal channels for e-cigarettes to enter Macau, whether by post or e-commerce.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U attended a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle yesterday afternoon which passed the bill.
Ao Ieong said that that the government was trying to reduce the circulation of e-cigarettes in the market by banning their sale, import and export, so that e-cigarette smokers could quit in a “subtle” way, but stressed that the government has no intention of turning e-cigarette smokers into traditional smokers by imposing a mandatory ban on smoking e-cigarettes.
The bill passed unanimously bans the manufacture, distribution, sale, import and export of e-cigarettes, and anyone who violates the law will be fined 4,000 patacas.
Directly-elected lawmakers Leong Sun Iok and Ron Lam U Tou said that while they are in favour of the amendment law, they will focus their attention on how the government would regulate and crack down on the online sale and smoking of e-cigarettes, and whether the government would raise the tobacco tax.
Ao Ieong said that the government would continue to study the feasibility of raising the tobacco tax, but with the current economic downturn, the government was concerned that increasing taxes would further increase pressure on consumption.
Some lawmakers said they were also concerned about the environmental impact of smoking in the street. Ao Ieong pointed out that tobacco is not a drug and it was difficult to ban it completely, adding that there was a need to study and review the balance between the needs of smokers and non-smokers, and that the streets of Macau are too narrow to set up smoking cabins.
The law will come into force 90 days after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO).
Lawmakers pass lift, escalator & travellator bill
Meanwhile, the legislature also passed the government-initiated lift, escalator & travellator bill, which will render the maintenance and inspections of the operation and safety of lifts, escalators, travellators and similar devices in Macau mandatory. It will come into force on April 1, 2024.
The legislature’s speaker, Kou Hoi In, announced after the two bills were passed that yesterday’s plenary session was the last one before the start of the summer recess. He pointed out that 29 bills were received during the outgoing legislative session, of which four were urgent procedures and 19 bills were passed, while the remaining 10 will be reviewed in the next legislative session.
The current legislative session, which was extended by a fortnight, ends tomorrow. The next session will begin on October 17.
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U responds to lawmakers’ questions during yesterday’s plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle.
– Photo: Ginnie Liang
