BACKGROUND: Smoking and its harmful effects on public health has been a growing concern globally. The Smoke-Free Area (SFA) regulation aims to reduce public exposure to cigarette smoke and protect the rights of non-smokers. Surabaya City in Indonesia, has implemented the SFA regulation with the enactment of Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2019. The policy mandates SFA implementation in seven types of places, requiring “no-smoking” signage by establishment representatives.TThis study investigates barriers to compliance with the SFA policy, aiming to identify enforcement challenges four years after its enactment and provide insights for achieving full compliance.
METHODS: The research is a cross-sectional study and employs interviews with the responsible individuals at 500 randomly selected establishments in Surabaya City conducted in 2023. Among these, 170 establishments were found to be non-compliant with the policy, specifically by failing to install “no-smoking” signage. The result further explored the specific reasons for the lack of adherence, categorizing the responses into distinct factors that contributing to non-compliance.
RESULTS: The most common reason for non-compliance with the SFA regulation was lack of knowledge, reported by 30%, followed by policy resistance at 22.9%. Additionally, 16.5% overestimated public awareness of the policy, assuming people would refrain from smoking without enforcement, 10.6% cited insufficient socialization of the policy. Other reasons included perception of unsupportive environment (5.9%), renovation (5.3%), economic interest (5.3%), where establishments feared a loss in business from enforcing the policy, and no obligation (3.5%).
CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasize the importance of improving socialization and awareness campaigns to address gaps in knowledge and to overcome resistance. The government should actively disseminate information about the regulation through media, events, and the distribution of signages. These would not only educate the public about the policy but also provide the necessary tools for compliance, thereby improving the overall implementation of the SFA regulation.