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Six shop owners referred to court for violating smoking ban

AMMAN - The Ministry of Health has referred six shop owners to court this year for violating the Public Health Law, a ministry official said on Wednesday.

Malek Habashneh, director of the Health Ministry's awareness department, told The Jordan Times that these shop owners, whose stores are located in malls, violated the law as they allowed smoking in their premises after the Public Health Law prohibiting smoking in public places was enforced at the beginning of this year.

He added that violators of the law face imprisonment or have to pay a fine.

The law also stipulates that any person caught smoking in a public place is subject to between one week and one month imprisonment or a JD15-JD25 fine. The same penalties apply to those who sell cigarettes to underage youths.

Habashneh also revealed that the health authorities referred four drivers of argileh delivery cars to court for violating the law this year.

The drivers, according to Habashneh, were not licensed to provide such a service and were apprehended by the traffic police.

According to the law, public places include hospitals, healthcare centres, schools, cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, public transport vehicles, airports, closed playgrounds, lecture halls and any other location to be determined by the health minister.

The ministry started implementing the law gradually from the beginning of the year, banning smoking in public institutions in January. The law was enforced in the Kingdom’s shopping malls and Queen Alia International Airport in March, and in fast food restaurants in June.

But the Jordan Restaurants Association (JRA) asked for more time to study the feasibility of prohibiting smoking in classified restaurants.

Habashneh said the ministry will meet next week with JRA representatives to discuss gradual implementation of the smoking ban in these establishments.

But JRA President Zeid Goussous told The Jordan Times that the association will request a postponement until mid-January.

“We were requested to come up with a feasibility study… but it is not ready yet and we cannot implement the ban by the end of this year,” he said.

Goussous also revealed that preliminary findings indicated that customers who frequent these restaurants are not in favour of the ban.

One proposal is implementing the law “gradually over the next five years”.

“In some restaurants, there will be separate areas for non-smokers and smokers, until we prohibit it completely. But we will recommend that the ban should not be imposed on nightclubs, pubs and argileh cafés,” Goussous said.

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