Health officials hope to implement a nationwide ban on smoking in public places by the end of this year, said the South China Morning Post.

National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesman Mao Qunan said the regulation is being developed with the State Council, and that his agency hoped to persuade the National People’s Congress to pass a law to restrict tobacco use, the newspaper said on its website.
An indoor smoking ban including workplaces and public transportation was approved in principle by the Congress in 2011, and the Health Ministry followed up with a regulation that did not say how the ban would be implemented, the newspaper reported. Several cities have approved public smoking bans.