HEALTH Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has issued a reminder that the smoking ban at eateries also covers electronic cigarettes, or vapes, and shishas containing nicotine, as they are classified as tobacco products.

“It is not only cigarettes that are considered tobacco products, but anything that contains nicotine,” he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He said such products are categorised under Regulation 11 of the Control of Tobacco Products 2004.

However, said Dr Dzulkefly, cigarettes are the main focus of the ministry’s nationwide “educational enforcement” programme.

“There’s no punitive action yet. Only warning notices,” he said, adding that users of vapes and shishas will be dealt with on a “case-by-case basis”.

“You can smoke. It is your right, but do it at the appropriate place. Do not pollute the air shared with other people.”

He said in the first six months of the ban, the ministry will “educate” smokers, and after the period, they can be slapped with a RM10,000 fine, with eateries that fail to enforce the ban facing a RM2,500 penalty.

As of midnight yesterday, 611 ministry officers and environmental health assistant officers visited 2,786 eateries and issued 1,453 written warnings, he said.

Some 7,000 pamphlets were distributed.

On Monday, seven people filed an application for leave for a judicial review to challenge the smoking ban.

They said smokers have the same right as non-smokers to patronise eateries, and that the government has not provided guidelines to eatery operators for them to assign smoking areas. – January 2, 2019.