Market & legal data of the tobacco alternatives sector in Asia

24th April 2024: Vietnam: Yesterday (23rd April) at a meeting in the National Assembly, organised by the Social Affairs Committee, the Ministry of Health reiterated the need for a total ban on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Other parliamentary delegates believe that it is necessary to specify the definitions of the products in legal documents in order to create a basis on which it would be possible to identify and warn about their harmful effects.
18th April 2024: Uzbekistan: The Association of Tobacco Industry Enterprises of Uzbekistan (Tamakisoz) has disagreed with the Ministry of Health’s recent proposal to ban e-cigarettes, e-liquids, heated tobacco consumables, and nicotine and tobacco devices. According to Tamakisoz, this proposal is expected to have an adverse impact on the state, businesses and society.
15th April 2024: Uzbekistan: The Ministry of Health has published a bill for public consultation that would ban devices for tobacco heating, heated tobacco consumables, e-cigarettes and e-liquids in the country. With the bill, the government seeks to protect the lives and health of the population, especially children and adolescents. The public consultation will end on 18th April 2024, and if the bill is adopted it will enter into force three months after its official publication.
28th March 2024: Kyrgyzstan: Tobacco product manufacturers and importers are required to submit a product report to the Ministry of Health by 31st March, as shown in our our compliance calendar.
27th March 2024: Israel: Yesterday (26th March), the Knesset (parliament) approved a bill amending the Law on the Prohibition of Advertising and Restriction of Marketing of Tobacco and Smoking Products (Tobacco Law). Under the new amendments, a pictorial health warning must be affixed on heated tobacco packaging. The amendment did not specify the timeframe for adopting these measures or the format of the warning, but it stipulates that the Ministry of Health, with the Knesset’s Economic Committee, have the authority to determine warning size, content, types of images, and display methods.
25th March 2024: Vietnam: The Ministry of Health has said it will propose a ban on heated tobacco and e-cigarettes to the government, even as the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance propose taxation and measures to develop the economy, media reports. A member of the Ministry of Health’s legal department said: “The Ministry of Health is committed to protecting, caring for and improving people’s health, putting people’s interests first, and ensuring the sustainable development of the country in terms of health and the environment. We will propose policies based on scientific evidence.”
22nd March 2024: Armenia: The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition has held a discussion with entities operating in the tobacco industry, media reports. Issues of unfair competition and other concerns were discussed with the aim of presenting them to the relevant authorities.
21st March 2024: Turkey: The Ministry of Trade has released its annual activity report for 2023, which revealed that in collaboration with the customs enforcement team, it was able to confiscate a total of 6.4m heated tobacco units last year.
21st March 2024: Israel: The Economic Committee has approved the second and third readings of a bill amending the Law on the Prohibition of Advertising and Restriction of Marketing of Tobacco and Smoking Products (Tobacco Law). The bill now heads to the Knesset (parliament) plenary for discussion. If further approved by the Knesset, a pictorial warning on heated tobacco packaging will be required.
21st March 2024: Vietnam: In a workshop about new-generation cigarettes organised by the Vietnam Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba) – the only company allowed to import e-cigarettes and heated tobacco – the deputy director of the Ministry of Health’s legal department said that so far, all documents sent by the Ministry of Health to the National Assembly and the government have proposed banning heated tobacco and e-cigarettes. He added that the ministry is listening to different opinions when planning policies. The representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s legal department supported a unified legal framework and added that the ministry is currently developing a policy in line with international practices, which will be submitted to the government in the near future.
20th March 2024: Philippines: The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has released the new tax stamp design for heated tobacco products, which will be lavender (for domestic products), red (for imported products) and violet (for exported products). Implementation of the new tax stamp will take effect on 1st June 2024.

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