According to the draft, companies will still be able to advertise their products in tobacco shops, which is against the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the draft national anti-smoking legislation, which requires banning all forms of tobacco advertisements, said Wu Yiqun.

"The only motive for advertisement, promotion and sponsorship in the tobacco industry is to sell more products, which spells disaster for public health," she said.

"Hopefully, the advertisement law will be further modified to ban all tobacco advertisements, promotions and sponsorships," she added.

Many law enforcers themselves are not fully aware of the harms of smoking, making strict enforcement of the law difficult at times, said Shen Shouwen, professor at Yunnan University in Kunming city.

Shen also suggested that the regulations should be more specific in terms of the punishment and who should enforce the law, and the general public should be better educated about the consequences and health hazards of tobacco.