Page 52 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

New provisions of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act were enacted on January 11, 2009. The HPA expected many calls and counselling regarding the new provisions and thus greatly expanded service capacities for the 0800- 531-531 Tobacco Hazards Inquiry and Helpline to ensure that all complaints about second-hand smoke could be responded to and handled promptly. Any valid case of public complaint was forwarded to local health bureaus for subsequent inspection and action. Since 2009, the 0800-531-531 inquiry helpline received a total of 52,051 calls and a total of 15,015 complaints (Fig. 1-7). Fig. 1-7 Statistics on tobacco control complaint and grievance service hotline (transfer to health bureaus) Calls Complaints Cases forwarded to health bureaus Closed cases 25,000 20,509 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 4,442 4,515 2,425 414 414 2014 3,737 2,100 276 276 2015 3,223 3,223 2,757 2009 3,559 947947848 2010 3,119 816816785 2011 2,646 661661 613 2012 566 566 542 2013 2,522 1,239 200 200 2016 3603 1551 246 246 2017 3,359 1,487 286 286 2018 Year Additionally, as people became more familiar with the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, a total of 3,359 calls were made to the Tobacco Hazards Inquiry and Complaints Helpline in 2018, which included 286 cases of public complaints and grievances for tobacco hazards that were uploaded into the reporting system. 49.03% of these grievances were related to domestic tobacco hazards followed by tobacco hazards on arcades and sidewalks (2.94%), and workplaces (11.25%). Statistics revealed that most calls were counselling about the purpose of the helpline, contents of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, grievances on domestic tobacco hazards, and other recommendations for tobacco control. The public also recommended the HPA to establish more stringent tobacco control measures and higher health and welfare surcharges for tobacco products, demonstrating their concern for the implementation of new Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act regulations and increased tobacco products surcharge. 50 cases