Smokefree Law in New Zealand
Frequently asked questions

Part 1: Smoke-free Environments > Section A: Overview and general questions

A1) What are the key changes to smokefree places in New Zealand?

A2) Where do smokefree provisions apply?

A3) Who do smokefree provisions apply to?

A4) What situations do the smokefree provisions not apply to?

A5) How many people are affected by the smokefree law?

A6) What are the aims of the smoke-free law?

A7) What public support is there for the smokefree law?

A8) What are the benefits of providing 100 percent smokefree indoor workplaces?

A9) How are smokers affected by the smokefree law?

A10) Isn’t the law forcing smokers to quit smoking?

A1) What are the key changes to smokefree places in New Zealand?

• From December 2004, all indoor workplaces became 100 percent smokefree. This included:

• warehouses, offices, factories and shops

• work cafeterias, dedicated smoking rooms and ‘smoko’ rooms, corridors, lifts, lobbies, stairwells, toilets and wash rooms or other shared internal areas

• hospitality venues (including licensed clubs, restaurants, casinos and gaming machine venues)

• working taxis, trains, aircraft, passenger lounges and indoor parts of ships

• schools and early childhood centres.

• There are no exceptions for separate smoking areas or ventilated smoking rooms in workplaces or hospitality venues, for workers or patrons.

• The only exception for a separately ventilated smoking room is for live-in patients or residents (not workers or visitors) in certain care facilities

• The only areas that people are now exposed to second-hand smoke is outdoors, in some work vehicles, private premises or home residences

• From 1 January 2004, all schools and early childhood centres became 100 percent smokefree, inside and out, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for school premises and grounds

• The only outdoor area smokers may not smoke is the grounds of school and early childhood centre premises - including sports fields in the weekends (to reduce the visibility and negative influence of smoking in places of learning for young people)

• The law does not prevent employers, business owners and home owners choosing to make the outdoor areas of their premises 100 percent smokefree too (eg, District Health Boards have made hospital grounds smokefree). However, these voluntary smokefree policies will not be enforced by the Ministry of Health.

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A2) Where do smokefree provisions apply?

No person may smoke in the following places:

• indoor workplaces

• licensed premises

• school or early childhood centre premises (indoors and outdoors, 24 hours a day 7 days a week).

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A3) Who do smokefree provisions apply to?

The 100 percent smokefree environments provisions apply to:

• employers and employees, volunteers, and smoking visitors or customers

• bar owners and hospitality proprietors, hospitality employees (bartenders, waiters, chefs, entertainers, croupiers etc), and smoking patrons

• school and early childhood centre staff, students, parents, visitors and anyone using the buildings or grounds of premises that are used as a school or early childhood centre (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

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A4) What situations do the smokefree provisions not apply to?

Areas are not covered by the smoke-free provisions, if they fit the following situations:

• any outdoor areas, except school grounds, eg, outdoor decks, verandas and orchards

• non-employees such as contractors and self-employed workers, if they do not work with other employees/volunteers in an indoor work setting

• private homes or temporary private premises

• smoking rooms for live-in patients or residents

• some work vehicles.

Caution: The Ministry of Health cannot provide legal advice about how the statutory definition of an indoor area that is ‘substantially enclosed’ (and therefore smokefree) applies to particular situations or premises. Note also that each situation differs, and may be defined in different ways/possibly caught by different aspects or definitions in the smokefree law. Anyone wanting specific legal advice should contact a lawyer or legal expert.

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A5) How many people are affected by the smokefree law?

Most people are affected by the smokefree law:

• smokers - there are about 700,000 smokers in New Zealand (25 percent of New Zealand adults smoke).

• non-smokers - three-quarters of New Zealanders do not smoke, but many were exposed to second-hand smoke in indoor workplaces and hospitality venues

• workers - about 54 percent of indoor workplaces were not legally required to be smokefree before the law change, including non-office environments and the hospitality industry (which has about 10,000 workers)

• young people – young people under 18 have reduced role modelling of smoking in their places of learning (schools and early childhood centres), and they face tighter restrictions on their ability to access tobacco or smoking products.

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A6) What are the aims of the smokefree law?

The aims are to:

• protect all workers and the public from second-hand smoke

• reduce the harm caused to individuals by their smoking

• further restrict minors’ (under 18) access to smoking products and prevent negative influences on young people

• further promote a smokefree (auahi kore) lifestyle as the norm.

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A7) What public support is there for the smokefree law?

A 2003 survey found that over 90 percent of New Zealanders, including 83 percent of smokers, supported the aims of the smokefree law (ie, the right of people to have a smokefree working environment). Only 6 percent disagreed.

Three-quarters of New Zealanders do not smoke. There are about 700,000 smokers in New Zealand (25 percent of New Zealand adults) and this law puts their preferences second to the serious public health risks of exposure to second-hand smoke.

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A8) What are the benefits of providing 100 percent smokefree indoor workplaces?

The benefits of 100 percent smokefree indoor workplaces include:

• answering public demand and support for smokefree environments. A 2003 survey found that over 90 percent of New Zealanders, including 83 percent of smokers, supported the aims of the smokefree law (ie, the right of people to have a smokefree working environment). Only six percent disagreed

• better business – more non-smokers eating and drinking out, reduced staff sickness and absenteeism, lower maintenance costs, and reduced ACC premiums and risk of workplace litigation

• cleaner air and better health for New Zealanders – smokefree provisions are likely to result in less smoking and fewer smokers, saving healthcare costs, economic costs, and emotional costs of premature death of loved ones

• promotion of a smokefree (auahi kore) lifestyle as the norm.

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A9) How are smokers affected by the smokefree law?

The smokefree law balances a smoker’s right to smoke a legal (but highly addictive) drug, with the right to health for people who are exposed to the harmful health effects of second-hand smoke.

The smokefree law does not target smokers; it targets the health harms of smoke inhaled by non-smokers around them.

A 2003 survey found that 83 percent of current smokers agreed that people have the right to work in environments free of tobacco smoke.

And most smokers surveyed said it would make no difference to them if pubs, bars and nightclubs go totally smokefree.

Past experience shows that smokefree laws may encourage more smokers to reduce their smoking, or quit altogether. For example, New Zealand’s smoking consumption rate dropped by a third between 1990 (when the Smokefree Environments Act was passed), and 1998.

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A10) Isn’t the law forcing smokers to quit smoking?

No. The Bill is not intended to target smokers, but rather the toxic, cancer-causing smoke that other people around them are exposed to.

While the law restricts where smokers may smoke indoors around other people, or on the premises of schools and early childhood centres, it does not restrict their ability to smoke elsewhere.

The law provides for future regulations to give smokers clearer and more detailed consumer information about the ingredients in cigarettes, and the harmful health effects (graphic illustrations on packages and information leaflets).

The law does not force smokers to quit, but it is hoped that smokefree environments and better consumer information will encourage more smokers to consider quitting smoking. The Smokefree Environments Act 1990 helped to reduce New Zealand’s smoking prevalence reducing by one third between 1976 and 2002.

It is hoped that the smokefree law will encourage more smokers to make their homes and cars smokefree, to protect the health of their children and family from second-hand smoke. When California’s bars and restaurants went smokefree in 1998, the number of smokers with smokefree homes increased from 22 percent to 50 percent.

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Page last updated 27 June 2005