An estimated 180 stalled prosecutions for breaches of the anti-smoking law will be able to go ahead after the highest court overturned a lower court's definition of what constitutes an indoor area.
The cases have been on hold since a Court of First Instance judge allowed an appeal by a hawker-control officer who had been fined for smoking in a plastic-enclosed extension of a Sham Tseng cafe.
Lawyers for Ho Yau-yin argued successfully that under the anti-smoking law an indoor area was one with each of its walls at least 50 per cent enclosed.
But the Court of Final Appeal yesterday accepted the prosecution's argument that an indoor area is any space with its total areas at least 50 per cent enclosed.
The court will give reasons for the decision at a later date.
The Department of Health welcomed the ruling.
