You would have heard via various media about the revised Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance coming into effect from 1 January 2007. The newly amended Ordinance has made many more areas in Hong Kong smoke-free. These include all indoor workplaces, restaurants, shops, children’s playgrounds and bathing beaches, etc.

As for PolyU, the amended Ordinance makes the entire PolyU campus, including open spaces, a Designated No Smoking Area. Under the amended Ordinance, no person shall smoke or carry a lighted cigarette, cigar or pipe in a Designated No Smoking Area, or else will be liable to a maximum fine of $5,000.

Upon the amended Ordinance becoming effective on 1 January 2007, smoking is strictly prohibited in the entire University campus including all its open areas, Hence, the four designated outdoor smoking areas as well as the few ash-trays at different locations are no longer available from the same date.

The Facilities Management Office at the same time have put up additional no-smoking signs/publicity materials provided by the Tobacco Control Office of the HKSAR Government around the campus to remind colleagues, students and visitors of the new statutory requirement. Furthermore, signposts indicating the no-smoking requirement on campus and ash-trays are provided at the main entrances to our campus to remind smokers to extinguish their cigarettes when entering our campus.

To prepare for situations where people are still found smoking on campus, the front-line staff of the Facilities Management Office has attended a talk given by the Tobacco Control Office which provided them with useful guidance on handling these situations.

Despite all the above measures, your full cooperation is essential to make our campus smoke-free. You can help the University to achieve this goal by refraining from smoking on campus and advising your visitors/guests about the new arrangement. You can also report any incident of non-compliance to the Campus Security Control Centre by calling 2766 7666.