Press Release

Support World No Tobacco Day 2013

30 May 2013

The Department of Health (DH) urged members of the public to support World No Tobacco Day tomorrow (May 31) in order to help create a smoke-free environment in Hong Kong.

The theme of World No Tobacco Day this year is “ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”. To curb the tobacco epidemic, a DH spokesman said that the Government has adopted a progressive and multi-pronged approach comprising legislation, enforcement, publicity, education, smoking cessation and taxation.

From the legislative and enforcement perspectives, the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Cap. 371) was enacted to regulate the advertising and promotion of tobacco products. Under the Ordinance, exhibition of tobacco advertisement in printed publications, in public places, by film, or on the Internet is prohibited and no person shall, for the purposes of promotion or advertisement, give any tobacco product to any person. The maximum penalty for each offence is a fine of $50,000 and $25,000 respectively.

On the publicity and education fronts, the Tobacco Control Office (TCO) of DH has taken this opportunity to launch a publicity campaign in late May and June to echo the World No Tobacco Day. The campaign includes five episodes of a one-minute TV programme for broadcast from May 27 to 31 on tobacco control in which five successful quitters share their views on the hazards of smoking and promote the benefits of smoking cessation. Two Announcements of Public Interest will also be aired to encourage smokers to kick the smoking habit.

To enjoy a healthier lifestyle and protect others from the hazards of second-hand smoke, the spokesman encouraged smokers to seek smoking cessation services through DH’s Integrated Smoking Cessation Hotline at 1833 183 or download the free Quit Smoking Mobile App. A designated webpage has been produced for promoting World No Tobacco Day. For more information, members of the public are welcome to visit the thematic webpage at This link will open in a new windowhttp://www.tco.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/wntd_2013.html.