Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health head Henry Tong on Saturday said surveillance cameras could help enforce the new tobacco-control measures passed by the Legislative Council on Thursday.

Although the measures will help reduce Hong Kong’s smoking rate, authorities may face challenges in enforcing the new law, and that's where new technologies can be brought into play, he said.

The amended law bans the sale of flavoured cigarettes and the possession of alternative smoking products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. It also extends statutory non-smoking areas to cover more public places.

“We think that some surveillance devices like CCTV... will also help implement the new law,” Tong said.

“But for the use of these surveillance devices and cameras, we would also need to educate and inform the public, so that they will feel that it is for law enforcement and does not violate their privacy.”

Tong said the newly introduced measures would help reduce the smoking rate in Hong Kong by this year or next.

“It is hard to say how much it will drop by, but every 0.1 percent of a drop in smoking preference means about 6,000 smokers quit smoking, which is very good for their health, for their families’ health, and also good for the public health system in Hong Kong,” he said.

Tong also called for a ban on smoking while walking.