TOKYO, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Japanese officials are considering regulations that would ban smoking in the workplace except in enclosed areas, officials say.
An advisory committee submitted the plan this week to Health Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Legislation will probably be submitted next year to Parliament.
Japan now has a voluntary policy on smoking. A 2007 survey found just over half of businesses had not taken steps to protect non-smokers from secondhand smoke by totally banning the practice or creating leak-proof smoking rooms.
Ryuji Abe, president of a Tokyo real estate company, Daku Enterprises, said the company will have to create a smoking room.
"It'll be difficult in this building because the work will be costly. But we can't tell our clients not to smoke," he said.
Officials say the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry may provide some assistance for companies building smoking rooms.
