LATEST ALERTS
View allAlternative tobacco and nicotine products in Asia
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Regulatory news and updates from the industry
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Full-length in-depth reports with detailed data and analysis for individual markets around the world
Regulatory reports
Detailed legal reports outlining industry regulation, analysis of the laws, and pertinent organisations
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Blog
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Alerts
Our legal experts track the evolving regulation around the tobacco alternatives sector on a daily basis. These alerts are then compiled into our Monthly Round-up section.
27th March 2023
Philippines: Last week, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular 35-2023, clarifying that the application of the 18-month transition period provided in the Vape Law (Republic Act 11900) is only for the provisions of product standards and product registration with the Bureau of Philippine Standards. The remaining provisions – such as registration of manufacturers, importers and brands with the BIR – are therefore effective. At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory notice informing industry members that the issuing of the licence to operate (LTO) and the product batch declaration (PBD) certification for vaping and heated tobacco product establishments has stopped as they are no longer required.23rd March 2023
Cambodia: During a seminar yesterday on e-cigarettes and related products, education minister Kim Sethany told school managers to ramp up enforcement of the ban on e-cigs and heated tobacco, which she said were widely known by Cambodian teenagers through advertising on social media, press reports.
21st March 2023
Taiwan: Amendments to tobacco legislation banning all types of e-cigarette and regulating heated tobacco products will come into force tomorrow. Heated tobacco products will have to undergo a health risk assessment before they can be sold in Taiwan. E-cigarette retailers risk fines of between TWD200,000 ($6,500) and TWD1m ($32,800), while anyone caught vaping could be fined TWD2,000 ($65) to TWD10,000 ($328).
20th March 2023
- Taiwan: The Health Ministry has proposed banning the use of floral, fruity, chocolate and mint-flavoured additives in tobacco products. If adopted, the measure would come into effect within 18 months of publishing. In January, the parliament adopted amendments to the tobacco legislation, allowing heated tobacco products that undergo a health risk assessment; however, the enforcement date has yet to be decided by the executive branch.
20th March 2023
- Pakistan: During a seminar on the impact of nicotine and heated tobacco products on public health – held on 19th March in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province – Nek Dad, public health director of the Directorate General of Health Services, called for a restriction on the use and marketing of heated tobacco products, highlighting the need to educate the public on their potential harm, press reports.
20th March 2023
- Bahrain: On 19th March, the minister of industry and commerce issued Decision No.26/2023, authorising the Ministry of Health to monitor the implementation of the Electronic Nicotine Products standards for a period of one year. Originally, Decision No.121/2021 mandated the Ministry of Health to monitor the implementation for six months.
17th March 2023
- Kyrgyzstan: The parliament approved the bill "On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of taxation" in the second and third readings, media reports. The bill would apparently change the taxation mechanism for heated tobacco products so they would be taxed based on weight (kg) instead of quantity (pieces), underpinning the principle of harm reduction. The consolidated version of the bill is not yet public. The bill would need to be signed by the president before it comes into effect.
15th March 2023
Qatar: The General Customs Authority has confirmed to TobaccoIntelligence that nicotine pouches are legal and can be imported by companies for commercial purposes under the Harmonised System (HS) code 24049130. The authority said no special labelling rules applied, but that importers should follow the general clearance procedures on the customs portal (Nadeeb), and that pouches are subject to an excise tax of 100%.
10th March 2023
- China: The Healthy China Action Promotion Committee instructed enforcement agencies to "severely crack down" on illegal underage and online sales. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration is also planning to step up enforcement of the tobacco control rules, and increase oversight over production in order to ensure that only licensed manufacturers remain on the market.
6th March 2023
Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry’s Consumer Protection Group has warned all e-commerce platforms to comply with vaping and heated tobacco regulation, or risk facing intensified monitoring and enforcement. It follows an increase in the number of online retailers found to be selling non-compliant products, such as products without the required health warnings or with flavour descriptors.
3rd March 2023
- Bangladesh: During an event to discuss the role of the media in tobacco control, the Development Organisation of the Rural Poor, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Bangladesh, urged the government to amend the tobacco control law and ban all types of electronic smoking, impose more restrictions on tobacco retail, and increase the size of health warnings on cigarette packets from 50% to 90%, press reports.
