Chinese National Health Commission: Smoking Control Regulations with Significant Legislative Achievements

According to Xinhua News Agency's report on May 25, 2023, China has strengthened the formulation and revision of tobacco control regulations. 24 provinces have enacted provincial-level tobacco control regulations, and 254 cities have implemented city-level tobacco control regulations. The proportion of the population protected by comprehensive smoke-free regulations continues to increase.

On May 25th, at the founding conference of the Smoking Control Association's Medical Institution and Health Promotion Professional Committee in China, as well as the "Smoking Control and Health" academic symposium, Wu Xiangtian, Deputy Director of the National Health Commission's Planning, Development, and Informatization Department, emphasized the importance of using smoking control education as a key health initiative to assist the people in achieving a healthy lifestyle.

In recent years, some regions have actively promoted legislation to control smoking, such as the public smoking control regulations in Shanghai and Beijing, which have achieved significant results. Wang Lu, director of the Department of Planning, Development and Informatization of the National Health Commission's Office of Health Supervision, introduced that in 2003, the World Health Assembly approved the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, aimed at reducing the destructive impact of tobacco on health and the economy. China ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005, and the convention officially came into effect in China in 2006.

The outline of the "Healthy China 2030" plan requires comprehensive promotion of tobacco control compliance, intensifying tobacco control efforts, and increasing the effectiveness of tobacco control through measures such as pricing, taxation, and legislation. Actively promoting smoke-free environment construction, strengthening the supervision and law enforcement of tobacco control in public places. Promoting the smoke-free work in public places and gradually achieving comprehensive indoor smoking bans. By 2030, the smoking rate among people aged 15 and above should be reduced to 20%.

According to data, the smoking rate among individuals aged 15 and over in China in 2022 was 24.1%, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points compared to 2020.