Beijingers pay 1 mln yuan in smoking fines

Fines resulting from the Beijing smoking ban introduced in June 2015, have totaled more than one million yuan(150,000 U.S. dollars), Beijing Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning announced on Thursday.

A ban on smoking in all indoor public places, workplaces and public transportation, the most strict in China, came into force on June 1, 2015.

Individual smokers can be fined up to 200 yuan, while businesses can face fines of up to 10,000 yuan if they fail to discourage smoking on their premises.

A total of 398 businesses and institutions were fined an average of 2,600 yuan each, along with 1,514 individuals, each fined an average of 53 yuan, according to the commission.

Beijing's tobacco sales fell 2.71 percent in 2015, said the commission's Gao Xiaojun.

People in Beijing are coming to accept that smoking is not allowed in public places, Gao said, but the migrant population in the capital has made implementation of the ban more difficult. Migrants know little about the ban and are more likely to find themselves in trouble.

Enforcement of the ban in office buildings, restaurants and entertainment venues is also difficult, Gao added. Endi