Smoking lounge regulations laid out

The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture has released a dispatch about the regulations for setting up smoking lounges in the airport and gaming venues.
According to the dispatch in yesterday’s Official Gazette, the location of smoking lounges should be separate from other facilities, and the lounges should be effective in holding smoke while also preventing contamination of nearby areas.
Smoking lounges in resorts with casinos should only be set up in gaming areas. In addition, lounges should be conspicuously signposted.
Regarding the internal setup of smoking lounges, materials used for the lounges’ ceilings, walls and floors should be effective in preventing smoke from escaping.
Smoking lounges should have one entrance or exit, which operates as an automatic sliding door. When the door of the smoking lounge is open, the air flow speed should be at least 0.1 m/s, and the negative air pressure should be above 5 pascal while the door is closed.
An alarm system with light and buzzer should be installed at the entrance of the lounge and will be set off when the air pressure inside the lounge is unstable and when the door is open for longer than one minute.
Moreover, smoking lounges should not be opened for usage until two hours after cleaning.
The new smoking ban will be implemented in 2018, while gaming and airport operators should prepare smoking lounges pursuant to the new regulations within a year after the law’s implementation.