Vietnam’s Ministry of Health is proposing age verification for tobacco purchases, allowing retailers to ask customers who appear under 18 to show an identity card, passport, or verify their age through the VNeID national digital identification app. Dr. Duong Huy Luong, deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Medical Services Administration, said at an Aug. 26 seminar that the measure is reasonable and should be supported by effective enforcement and communication. He also called for the revised tobacco-control law to cover emerging nicotine products based on their characteristics rather than specific product names or technologies, while Hoang Duc Nam of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union said controls should extend to online sales and social media marketing, where young people increasingly encounter nicotine products.
