Category: Legislation

UK Generational Smoking Ban Clears First Hurdle

TR Archive
A landmark bill in the United Kingdom to ban its younger generation from smoking has cleared its first hurdle in the House of Commons.
If it becomes law, the legislation, backed by a 415 to 47 vote, would prevent anyone born after January 1, 2009, from buying tobacco.
Before then, the bill must go through further parliamentary stages, with MPs able to suggest amendments to any aspects they don’t like.
The legislation includes powers to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco, vape, and nicotine products in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Other proposed measures include a total ban on vaping product advertising and sponsorship, with a possible ban on the sale of sweet vape flavors, subject to consultation.
While the numbers indicate large cross-party support, there was strong criticism from Conservative, Liberal Democrat, and Reform UK MPs, who raised concerns about “civil liberties.”
The division list showed Tory leader Kemi Badenoch voted against the measure, having previously said “people born a day apart will have permanently different rights,” reports Sky News.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, shadow immigration minister Robert Jenrick, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith were among the other high-profile Conservatives who didn’t back the bill.
While most Liberal Democrats did vote to support the bill, the party’s health spokeswoman Helen Morgan said: “The introduction of a phased smoking ban is problematic and not because Liberal Democrats want to see people smoke themselves into an early grave – far from it – but because it raises issues of practicality and raises issues of civil liberties.”
November 27, 2024
Kyrgyzstan to Ban E-cigarettes

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Kyrgyzstan will ban vapes from mid-2025.
President Sadyr Japarov signed a law prohibiting the import, circulation and use of electronic cigarettes.
After July 1, 2025, those caught vaping will risk a fine $115 and sellers of e-cigarettes will be subject of a penalty ranging from $230 to $750.
Importing electronic cigarettes will result in correctional labor for two months to one year or a fine of up to $1,390. Meanwhile, importing electronic cigarettes in large quantities will result in a fine of up to $2,300 or imprisonment for up to two years.
The law, titled “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts in the Sphere of Protecting Citizens’ Health,” will come into force on July 1, 2025.
November 25, 2024
Greece to Boost Penalties for Youth Vape Sales

Credit: Lefteris Papaulakis
Greece is set to introduce a new bill in its Parliament that would impose stricter penalties for businesses supplying alcohol, electronic cigarettes, and vaping devices to minors in the government’s efforts to revamp alcohol laws in the country.
This is a joint decision made by the ministries of Citizen Protection, Justice, and Health, and it comes after repeated incidents of selling alcohol to under-aged individuals.
According to sources, violators who sell these harmful products to minors could be punished with imprisonment, financial fines, and other administrative penalties, including the immediate closure of the business involved, media reports.
Ministerial officials report that past oversights have also been identified regarding the access minors have to these harmful products. Specifically, under the previous government, the number of police officers assigned to enforce the anti-smoking law, for example, had been drastically reduced, penalties had been minimized, and there was also a decision allowing for the use of alcohol by minors at private events.
The Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis commented on the new law, “Everything is now becoming stricter for the protection of minors, with increased enforcement.”
November 7, 2024
U.K. Tobacco and Vapes Bill Introduced

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The U.K. government will introduce its Tobacco and Vapes Bill in Parliament today. The legislation involves some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules, including a measure banning younger people from smoking. However, the government abandoned plans for a ban on smoking outside pubs and cafes after concerns were raised about the impact on the hospitality industry.
The proposed legislation gives the government power to ban smoking outside specific outdoor spaces such as children’s playgrounds, schools and hospitals. But the plans will be subject to consultation.
The previous government had announced similar measures to create the first smoke-free generation. However, those plans failed to become law before the general election in the summer when the party lost power.
The new legislation ensures that anyone aged 15 this year, or younger, will be banned from buying cigarettes and aims to make vapes less appealing to children.
“This government is taking bold action to create the first smoke-free generation, clamp down on kids getting hooked on nicotine through vapes, and protect children and vulnerable people from the harms of secondhand smoke,” said Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting in a statement.
Britain banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, including bars and workplaces, in 2007.
Cancer Research U.K. said this led to an estimated 1.9 million fewer smokers, and research in the British Medical Journal estimated there were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks the following year.

Creating a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others aren’t discriminates against younger adults.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
While welcoming the decision to drop a proposed ban on smoking outside pubs and other other hospitality venues, smokers’ lobby group Forest said it was concerned by other measures in the bill.
“Banning smoking outside hospitals is heartless and cruel,” said Forest Director Simon Clark. “Smoking in the open air poses no risk to nonsmokers, including children, but it can be a comfort to patients, visitors and staff who smoke and want a quiet stress-free moment.”
Meanwhile, increasing the age of sale by one year every year, as proposed on the generational tobacco ban part of the bill, would infantilize future generations of adults, according to Forest.
“If you can buy alcohol, drive a car, join the army and vote at 18, you should also be allowed to purchase tobacco,” said Clark.
“Creating a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others aren’t discriminates against younger adults.
“It will cause huge confusion in shops and could lead to even more retail crime.
“It will also drive younger adults to the black market and into the arms of criminal gangs.”
November 5, 2024
Health Ministry Wants to Ban New Tobacco Products

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Vietnam’s health ministry has proposed a national ban on e-cigarettes and tobacco-heating products, reports Vietnam News.
During a conference last week, Deputy Minister Tran Van Thuan stressed that all forms of tobacco, including new-generation products, pose a significant threat to public health.
Nguyen Nho Huy, deputy director of the physical education department at the Ministry of Education and Training, shared that vaping among students had risen from 2.6 percent in 2019 to 8 percent in 2023.
According to ministry of health data, nearly 1,224 people were hospitalized in 2023 due to health complications directly linked to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
Tran also referenced risks such as battery explosions and nicotine poisoning.
Heated tobacco, he noted, emits smoke containing toxins similar to those found in traditional cigarettes.
Participants in the event also expressed concern about the market for illicit vaping products. In the first half of 2024, authorities uncovered 35 cases of illegal trade and possession of drug-infused e-cigarettes, according to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Trung.
November 4, 2024
Tobacco Firms Object to New Tobacco Rules

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Tobacco companies have objected to reforms to Bangladesh’s tobacco law proposed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, reports BDNews24.
In a letter addressed to the law and finance ministries, BAT and Japan Tobacco outlined their reservations and stressed the possibility of loss of government revenue due to the proposed revisions.
However, according to the National Board of Revenue, tobacco revenues rose by 17.97 percent in fiscal 2005–2006 and 37.52 percent in fiscal 2006–2007 after the Smoking and Using of Tobacco Products (Control) Act passed in 2005.
Following a 2013 amendment, tobacco revenues rose by 25.51 percent in the following fiscal years.
A.B.M. Zubair, executive director of the anti-smoking group PROGGA, urged officials to ignore the tobacco companies’ objections. “The health ministry’s initiative to strengthen the existing tobacco control law aims at protecting the nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and shielding the youth from tobacco’s harmful effects,” he was quoted as saying.
“Therefore, the draft amendment must be passed immediately, undeterred by the ill tactics of the tobacco companies.”
October 31, 2024
Peru Squeezes Big Tobacco

Photo: Amparo Garcia
Peru’s Congress has approved a tobacco control law that health advocates say will save lives.
The new legislation not only bans tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, but also expands the size of mandatory pictorial health warning labels on tobacco products, including cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs). In addition, the law prohibits the use of tobacco and e-cigarettes in many public spaces.
Anti-tobacco activists welcomed the new legislation, and encouraged the executive branch to quickly sign it into law. “Peru’s new tobacco control regulations must be swiftly enacted and strongly enforced to ensure that these crucial public health measures can save as many lives as possible,” said Patricia Sosa, director of Latin America Programs at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.
Peru is a party to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which obligates the country to implement measures to address tobacco use. Such measures include smoke-free public places, warning labels on tobacco products, increased tobacco taxes and restrictions on tobacco advertising.
While lauding Peru’s new legislation, Sosa said that additional protections are needed to address gaps in the new law. She noted that warning labels on e-cigarettes are text-only and smaller than those on combustible cigarettes, while advertising restrictions are not as comprehensive.
“More robust regulation of these addictive products is essential to protect public health, especially younger generations—particularly given how tobacco and e-cigarette companies market these products to young people in Peru and around the world,” said Sosa.
October 23, 2024
Kenya to Update Tobacco Law

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Kenyan lawmakers want to update the 2007 Tobacco Control Act to account for new nicotine products, reports Nation.
Established to control the manufacture, production, labeling, sale, sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products, the 2007 legislation did not anticipate nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and pouches. Its most recent amendment dates from 2009.
The currently proposed amendment, tabled by Senator Catherine Mumma, will extend the Tobacco Control Act’s provisions to electronic nicotine-delivery systems, their refill containers and nicotine pouches. It also seeks to control the advertisement of electronic nicotine-delivery systems and modern oral products. In addition, the amendment will require manufacturers to secure approval from the Cabinet Secretary for Health for the manufacture, importation, distribution, storage or sale of nicotine products.
“The principal objective of [the bill] is to amend the Tobacco Control Act to provide for the regulation of electronic nicotine-delivery systems that include electronic cigarettes and related products, regulate the sale of tobacco and tobacco products for persons under the age of 18 years, regulate advertisement and ensure prior authorization of tobacco and tobacco products by the Cabinet Secretary,” said Mumma.
The number of Kenyans who smoke has been increasing over the years and is projected to hit 3.61 million by 2029. According to Consumer Insights, Statista, there were about 3.1 million tobacco users in Kenya at the end of 2022.
Statista notes that the number has been rising in the past 15 years and is estimated to increase by another 5.8 percent over the next five years.
Stakeholders have been urging the government to increase tobacco taxes to curb the rising cigarette consumption, especially among young people.
“We want cigarettes and tobacco products to be expensive so that they are out of reach of children,” said Celine Awuor, CEO of the International Institute for Legislative Affairs, during the third annual Conference of Tobacco Taxation hosted by the National Taxpayers Association, which was reported by Africa Science News.
“We are having products that are cheap and relatively affordable, meaning that young people are able to access and pick up these habits early and then get hooked into addiction.”
Currently, taxes in Kenya constitute 32 percent of the retail price, well below the World Health Organization’s recommendation of between 70 percent and 75 percent. And whereas the WHO advocates uniform taxation for all tobacco products, the Kenyan cigarette tax system distinguishes between filtered and unfiltered cigarettes.
Meanwhile, Tobacco Control Board chair Naom Shaban highlighted the challenges presented by illicit tobacco products, which have been gaining market share. “These products are dangerous because we don’t know their contents and they bypass health regulations,” Shaban was quoted as saying.
October 6, 2024
Law Will Help Malaysia Reach Goal: Minister

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Malaysia’s recently enacted tobacco law should help the country achieve its goal of reducing smoking incidence to 15 percent by 2025, according to Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad, reports The Star.
The share of smokers among Malaysians aged 15 and above dropped from 21.3 percent to 19 percent in recent years.
“Now, we have four percentage points left to achieve the target baseline,” Dzulkefly said. “I hope we can hit 15 percent by December 2025,” he told reporters during a media briefing on the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852), which came into force Oct 1.
The Act covers regulations on the registration, sale, packaging, labelling and prohibition of smoking in public places.
Previously, the 2023 Global Adult Tobacco Survey Malaysia reported that it is unlikely for the country to reach its 15 percent target as it took 12 years to reduce the rate of tobacco smokers by four percentage points from 2011 to 2023.
Dzulkefly said enforcement of Act 852 could help reduce the tobacco smoking habit among adults.
While the share of Malaysian smoking dropped, the proportion of people vaping grew from 3.2 percent in 2016 to 5.8 percent in 2024.
Dzulkefly said the health ministry will determine its prevalence in the future to better tackle the habit.
“Right now, the national prevalence of vaping is at 5.8 percent, so we will only be able to determine our targets once we have the figures tallied,” he said.
October 6, 2024
Regulations Decimate Philippine Vape Sector

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Onerous government regulations have forced about one-fifth of Philippine vaping companies out of business, according to Philippine E-Cigarette Industry Association President Joey Dulay. Importers, he added, have found it easier to comply than their domestic counterparts.
“But we are pushing them to try and comply,” Dulay was quoted as saying by Business World.
Under the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act, manufacturers or importers must register their products and secure licenses to operate.
They are also required to adhere to packaging standards and pay duties and taxes.
Manufacturers, distributors and importers were given an 18-month transition period to comply with the regulations laid down in the vape law.
Dulay noted that many vape brands and manufacturers have yet to secure their Philippine standard quality and/or safety mark and import commodity clearance sticker.
By the end of August, the Bureau of Customs had confiscated PHP6.5 billion ($115.21 million) worth of illegal vape products, mostly from China.
The government is estimated to miss around PHP5 billion yearly from illicit vape products.
October 3, 2024