Macau is set to expand its outdoor non-smoking areas by introducing a mandatory 10-metre smoke-free buffer zone around the entrances of all hospitals, health centres, nurseries, crèches, and educational facilities, including primary and secondary schools. The measure is part of a newly concluded amendment bill to the Regime of Tobacco Prevention and Control. The Executive Council has finished discussing the draft, which will now be forwarded to the Legislative Assembly for legislative review. Under the proposed framework, the Chief Executive will also be empowered to designate specific high-traffic areas as non-smoking zones via executive order, restricting smoking strictly to designated spots within those locations.
The amendment substantially tightens restrictions on alternative tobacco products. It proposes a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, distribution, sale, import, export, and transport — both into and out of the city — of nicotine pouches, herbal cigarettes, and waterpipes (shisha), along with their components and accessories. The draft also outlaws the consumption or possession of e-cigarettes and their parts across all indoor public spaces, designated smoking areas, and collective outdoor spaces, subject to a six-month transitional period. Cheang Seng Ip, Acting Director of the Health Bureau, clarified that once the legislation takes effect, vaping will be prohibited everywhere in Macau except inside private homes, with violators facing fines and immediate confiscation of their devices. The bill further targets traditional smoking through packaging and enforcement measures. It introduces plain, standardized packaging for tobacco products, requiring graphic health warnings to cover 85 percent of the two largest surfaces on standard cigarette packets; for cigars and cigarillos, warnings must span at least 70 percent of one primary surface and 100 percent of the other. The tobacco industry will be granted an 18-month transitional period to adapt to the new packaging rules. To modernize enforcement, the amendment also authorizes tobacco control inspectors to be equipped with and use body-worn cameras while on duty.
