TobaccoReporter logo

Tag: tobacco control

  • Alabama Expands Indoor Vaping Ban, Imposes New Vapor Tax

    Alabama Expands Indoor Vaping Ban, Imposes New Vapor Tax

    Two Alabama laws affecting electronic nicotine products take effect today (Oct. 1), expanding the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act to prohibit vaping in covered public indoor spaces and imposing a new 10-cent-per-milliliter excise tax on consumable vapor products. Senate Bill 9 expands the definition of smoking under the Clean Indoor Air Act to include vaping in locations such as restaurants, workplaces, retail stores, health facilities, educational facilities, airports, and government buildings.

    Separately, wholesalers and registered retailers will be responsible for collecting and remitting the new vapor products tax and must obtain a Vapor Products Tax License from the Alabama Department of Revenue. Businesses that fail to comply may face penalties, while a 4.75% discount is available for tax payments filed and paid by the 20th of the following month.

  • NZ Proposes Tougher Penalties for Tobacco Smuggling

    NZ Proposes Tougher Penalties for Tobacco Smuggling

    New Zealand is proposing tougher penalties for tobacco smuggling and excise evasion, including increasing the maximum prison term from six months to seven years. The government also plans to introduce new offenses and fines for selling tobacco that does not comply with the country’s packaging requirements, including a fine of up to NZ$2,000 ($1,120) and a strict-liability penalty of up to NZ$200,000 ($112,000) for manufacturers, importers, and distributors. The maximum penalty for an existing knowledge-based packaging offense would increase from NZ$50,000 to NZ$100,000 ($28,000 to $ $56,000).

    The changes would be introduced through amendments to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990. The government said Customs seized 12 million cigarettes and 1.7 tons of loose tobacco at the border between January and Sept. 1. The proposals would also align penalties for selling small quantities of tobacco with those for packaging offenses and strengthen consequences for specialist vape retailers that breach regulations.

  • Türkiye Drafting Tobacco Control Bill That Includes Generational Ban

    Türkiye Drafting Tobacco Control Bill That Includes Generational Ban

    Türkiye is preparing legislation that would prohibit people born after Jan. 1, 2015, from using or selling tobacco products throughout their lives, according to Professor Toker Ergüder, who is involved in drafting the proposal. The Health Ministry has been preparing the legislation for about a year and is expected to submit it to Parliament in October. The draft would also tighten smoking restrictions in indoor and outdoor public spaces, introduce new cigarette packaging rules, eliminate slim cigarettes, and prohibit smoking in restaurant areas, while designated smoking areas would be established in parks and public-building grounds. The proposal also includes a longer-term plan to prohibit tobacco production and sales in Türkiye from 2040. Ergüder said annual cigarette sales increased from about 91,000 tons, or 4.5 billion packs, in 2012 to approximately 160,000 tons, or 8 billion packs, in 2025.

  • Taiwan to Raise Penalties for Bringing in E-cigarettes

    Taiwan to Raise Penalties for Bringing in E-cigarettes

    Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance announced plans to raise penalties for illegally bringing e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and related components into the country. Amendments to customs anti-smuggling rules will remove the existing exemption from fines for tobacco-related products with a customs value of NT$5,000 ($160) or less, while fines for violations involving these products will be higher than those for most other controlled goods.

    Customs data show 1,346 e-cigarette seizures last year involving about 120,000 devices and 33,000 bottles or cartridges of e-liquid. In the first eight months of 2026, authorities recorded 726 cases involving 35,000 devices and 40,000 bottles or cartridges of e-liquid. Seized products will be confiscated, and individuals may be referred to local health bureaus, which can impose fines of at least NT$50,000 ($1,600) under Taiwan’s Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act.

  • Surveys Show Strong Support for Tobacco Controls in Türkiye

    Surveys Show Strong Support for Tobacco Controls in Türkiye

    Surveys by Turkish Green Crescent (Yeşilay) found broad support for proposed tobacco-control measures focused on protecting children and young people from tobacco and nicotine use. The digital survey included 1,461 participants, while 5,481 people participated in a face-to-face survey conducted across Türkiye’s seven regions. In the digital survey, 91.4% supported new regulations aimed at protecting young people from tobacco and nicotine addiction.

    Support for a proposed “Tobacco-Free Generation” policy, which would prohibit tobacco sales to people born in 2015 or later, reached 89.3% in the digital survey and 83.2% in the field survey. Meanwhile, 84.5% supported limiting the visibility of tobacco products at points of sale, 89.6% backed stronger restrictions on tobacco products on digital platforms, and 91.6% favored measures to reduce tobacco use and visibility in public spaces. Respondents also widely viewed newer nicotine products as harmful, with 96.3% describing e-cigarettes as harmful, compared with 92.9% for disposable vapes, and 91.5% for heated tobacco products. Yeşilay President Mehmet Dinç said the organization supports the Health Ministry’s proposed tobacco-control measures, emphasizing regulation rather than a ban and calling for legislation to advance through Parliament.

  • Imperial Urges Retailers to Weigh In on UK Consultation

    Imperial Urges Retailers to Weigh In on UK Consultation

    Imperial Brands is urging UK retailers to respond to the government’s latest consultation on the packaging, appearance, and in-store display of vapes, nicotine pouches, and other nicotine products before the Oct. 2 deadline. The company says retailer input will be important given the potential costs and operational disruption associated with changes to store layouts, displays, and packaging.

    The government is expected to respond by the end of the year, with new display restrictions on vapes and nicotine pouches proposed for June 2027. Product appearance requirements would follow later and could also apply to cigarette papers, herbal smoking products, and heated tobacco devices.

    Imperial said it supports measures to prevent youth access but says new requirements should be “practical, evidence-based, and workable for responsible law-abiding retailers.” The company warns that mandatory closed storage could require new fixtures or store-layout changes, while standardized white packaging could make products harder to distinguish and increase transaction times. It also says implementation timelines could be challenging where physical modifications are required.

    Imperial is encouraging retailers to submit their views through the government consultation portal, arguing their “real-world retail experience” is critical to developing practical and proportionate regulations. The consultation comes ahead of other significant UK changes, including Oct. 29’s minimum sales age of 18 for all consumer nicotine products and the phased annual increase in the tobacco sales age beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

  • Kuwait Tightens Tobacco and Nicotine Regs

    Kuwait Tightens Tobacco and Nicotine Regs

    Kuwait’s Health Ministry issued new regulations covering tobacco and nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, nicotine liquids, cartridges, and pouches. Ministerial Decision No. 237 of 2026 bans sales in educational and health facilities, government institutions, sports clubs, youth centers, and venues serving children and young people. Sales are also prohibited through websites, apps, social media, delivery services, vending machines, and outlets within 200 meters of educational institutions.

    All covered products must be registered and approved by the Health Ministry, with manufacturers and suppliers required to disclose ingredients, nicotine concentration, country of origin, and batch information. Products of unknown origin, those exceeding approved limits or those designed or marketed to appeal to young people are prohibited. Health warnings, including text and images, must cover at least 50% of the main packaging area.

    Sales to people under 21 are prohibited, along with advertising, promotion, sponsorship, free samples, gifts, and discounts. E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products will face the same restrictions as smoking in public and enclosed places where smoking is prohibited. The regulations take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

  • Nigerian Health Groups Oppose Tobacco Control Bill

    Nigerian Health Groups Oppose Tobacco Control Bill

    A coalition of Nigerian tobacco control and public health organizations has called for the immediate recall of the National Tobacco Control Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, arguing that it would weaken the country’s existing tobacco regulations by creating a more permissive framework for e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches and other non-combustible nicotine products. The groups urged the National Assembly to withdraw the legislation and called on President Bola Tinubu to reject it if passed.

    The coalition said the bill would allow broader advertising, online sales, retail displays and product sampling for non-combustible products while weakening packaging, health warning and disclosure requirements. It also argued that the proposal conflicts with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by treating heated tobacco products differently from conventional tobacco products. The organizations called for all tobacco and nicotine products to remain subject to a single regulatory framework and urged lawmakers to publish legislative records related to the bill’s development.

  • Côte d’Ivoire Implements Plain Packaging for Tobacco

    Côte d’Ivoire Implements Plain Packaging for Tobacco

    Côte d’Ivoire has become the second African country, joining Mauritius, to implement plain packaging requirements for tobacco products, with all cigarettes sold from Aug. 3 required to comply with the new rules. The measure completes implementation of the country’s 2019 Tobacco Control Act and aligns with recommendations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by requiring standardized packaging and prohibiting logos, branding and other promotional elements.

  • PA Defends Flavored Vape Law in Constitutional Challenge

    PA Defends Flavored Vape Law in Constitutional Challenge

    Pennsylvania is urging a federal court to allow enforcement of its statewide restrictions on most flavored electronic cigarettes, arguing that similar laws have repeatedly been upheld by federal appeals courts and are consistent with states’ authority to regulate tobacco and nicotine products. In a recent court filing, the commonwealth said the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on their constitutional claims, citing multiple appellate decisions that have upheld comparable restrictions against challenges based on equal protection, due process, and the Commerce Clause.

    Pennsylvania maintains that the law serves legitimate public health objectives and that courts have consistently recognized broad state authority to regulate e-cigarettes, positioning the litigation as another test of the expanding patchwork of state-level vaping regulations.