Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday approved in principle the government's antismoking plan after the health ministry expanded the scope of exceptions from its initial plan to basically allow continued smoking at eateries.

While the ministry had sought to introduce a total indoor smoking ban in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, it gave up after staunch opposition from the LDP, whose members have strong ties with tobacco and restaurant industries.

A draft bill compiled by the ministry stipulates smoking will be completely banned within the premises of hospitals, schools and government offices to prevent passive smoking.

However, smoking will be permitted in restaurants and bars if they set up special rooms for exclusive use by smokers where no food or drink will be served. The government will present the bill to the Diet possibly next month.

Facilities with customer seating areas of up to 100 square meters and capital of up to 50 million yen ($465,800) will be exempted from the requirement to establish separate smoking areas, if they display a sign indicating it is a "smoking space." The ministry had originally planned to exempt eateries with a floor space of up to 30 sq meters.

As a result of the backpedaling, the ministry estimates that customers at some 55 percent of all restaurants and bars can carry on lighting up without going to a separate smoking room, raising questions about the smoking ban's effectiveness.

People who smoke in violation of the rule will be fined up to 300,000 yen and facility managers who fail to take proper measures including removing ashtrays can face a penalty of up to 500,000 yen.

The draft bill also calls for restricting the use of heat-not-burn tobacco products by requiring eateries to set up special smoking rooms if they want to allow their customers to smoke while they dine.

Last year, the government failed to submit to the Diet a bill to revise the Health Promotion Law to beef up measures against secondhand smoking due to resistance from the LDP.

Based on the World Health Organization standard, Japan is among the lowest-ranked counties in terms of tobacco control, with no smoke-free law covering all indoor public places.

About 15,000 people are estimated to die in the country every year from passive smoking, and a government survey in 2016 showed some 40 percent of nonsmokers said they have inhaled smoke from others at eateries.