JEDDAH: A new law to combat smoking in public and workplaces has been drafted and is awaiting Cabinet approval. Those smoking in public places will be fined SR200.

Suleiman Al-Sabi, secretary-general of the Charitable Society to Combat Smoking, urged those affected by smokers at work and public places to take legal action against them, demanding compensation.

“Parents should file lawsuits against teachers who smoke in schools as well as against traders who sell cigarettes to their children,” he said.

He said the new law, which will be effective a year after its publication in the official gazette, was prepared by the committee of experts at the Council of Ministers.

He said the health minister would be authorized to draft an executive bylaw for the anti-smoking law.

“The Health Ministry will implement the law,” he said, adding that his organization had played a big role in pushing for the law.

The law is significant as Saudi Arabia tops the list of tobacco importers, according to 2007 statistics. Iran is placed second, followed by Jordan, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt. He said cigarette smoking has so far caused the death of 3.48 million people worldwide this year, including 13,929 in Saudi Arabia.

He said the charitable society had asked GCC customs officials to raise customs tariff on cigarettes by 200 percent.

“Unfortunately they did not approve that proposal, saying it needed further study,” he said. Al-Sabi emphasized the need for strict control on the sales of cigarettes.

“We have to follow the system practiced in Australia where traders ensure that the buyer of cigarettes is not less than 18 years of age,” he said, adding “this is because they fear punishment.”

He said the society officials had visited the heads of the Court of Grievances and the Control and Investigation Bureau to discuss implementation of laws on preventing smoking in public places and government departments.

Al-Sabi said the law has proposed a SR200 fine for those who smoke in public places such as markets, restaurants, courtyards of mosques, ministries, educational, health, sports and cultural institutions, public transports, lifts and toilets.

Smoking is also banned in workplaces of companies, factories, banks, food manufacturing places as well as petroleum producing, transporting, distributing and refining areas and fuel and gas selling outlets.

The new law insists that smoking areas should be separated from public places and persons aged less than 18 should not be allowed to enter them. It also said that cigarettes should not be sold through vending machines, should not be sold to persons aged below 18 and should not be given free of charge or as gifts.

Article 1 of the law calls for all measures at state, social and individual levels to prevent smoking all types of tobacco, including sheesha. The law bans cultivation of tobacco and derivatives. The ban comes into effect three years after the implementation of the law. Those found cultivating tobacco would be fined SR20,000.

The law calls for increase in customs tariffs on tobacco imports with the approval of the Cabinet. It also stipulates that it should be written on the cigarette packets in Arabic that it is harmful to health and is the main reason for cancer, heart and liver diseases.

“Cigarette smoking is expected to kill 500 million people by 2030,” said Adel bin Saad Al-Khofi, supervisor of the anti-smoking campaign, quoting a joint report issued by the World Health Organization and World Bank in August 2000.

“About 70 percent of these deaths are expected in the Arab world as a result of direct or passive smoking that affects wives, children and friends of a smoker,” Al-Khofi said.

Muhammad Al-Baddah, supervisor of the anti-smoking program at the Health Ministry, said cigarette smoking in the Kingdom is growing at an alarming proportion. He said the value of cigarette imports in the country grew to SR1.7 billion in 2005. He estimated the total economic losses caused by smoking at SR25 billion in five years from 2005 to 2010.