Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in Asia
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Blog
Tobacco may not be a vote-winning issue, but what a difference an election makes
15th September 2022
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NEW FORMAT
From February of 2022, subscribers will be able to view and filter individual regulatory alerts per region. If you want to get our monthly compilations, visit our alerts Round-up section.
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.
22nd September 2022
Malaysia: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has said he expects to finalise the review of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 next week with the parliamentary special select committee in order to table it again in the upcoming parliamentary session, which starts on 3rd October, press reports. Khairy said MPs were generally in favour of the bill, which proposes a ban on tobacco products for those born on or after 1st January 2007, and that most of the issues raised during the bill’s first reading had been resolved by the committee.
20th September 2022
Kazakhstan: A small group of deputies has proposed a reduction in the excise tax rates on heated tobacco products, media reports. However, deputy economy minister Azamat Amrin and health ministry representative Gulnara Sarsenbayeva are both reportedly opposed to the proposal.
19th September 2022
- Saudi Arabia: The Board of Directors of the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has issued the decision No. 570/2022 approving the amendments to the executive by-law on excise tax. According to the decision, importers and producers of excise goods will now be obliged to disclose the tax to the authority within a period of 15 days from the date of the tax due. In addition, a warehouse will be eligible for licensing as a tax warehouse if it acquires an average of 250,000 units of alternative tobacco products, as opposed to the previous 500,000.
13th September 2022
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU): Following a decision by the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission, up to 200 heated tobacco consumables can be imported duty-free into the EAEU – the economic union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia – for personal use. This will apply from 8th October to over-21s entering Kazakhstan and to over-18s in the other EAEU member states.
12th September 2022
- Jordan: Today, 12th September, the House of Representatives approved the Child Rights bill. The new law considers smoking in the presence of children, even by parents or other family members, an attack on their health and physical well-being. The law dictates fines ranging from JOD100 ($140) to JOD300 ($425) for smoking or vaping in front of children. The use of tobacco, whether it is smoked, sucked, chewed or inhaled, is considered a category of smoking according to Public Health Law No. 47/2008 and the “standards for tobacco and nicotine products, including electronic ones”.
9th September 2022
- Malaysia: Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin said today, 9th September, that “if there are no obstacles, the parliamentary special select committee report [on the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022] will be completed by the end of this month to allow it to be tabled again in the next Parliamentary session”.
9th September 2022
- Malaysia: The parliamentary special select committee (PSSC) responsible for assessing the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 that proposes a ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2007 generally agreed yesterday to drop Section 17(1)(c) on the ban of possession of tobacco products for anyone born from 1st January 2007, but to retain Sections 17(1)(a) and (b), which prohibit these individuals from using said products, press reports.
5th September 2022
- Bahrain: The National Bureau for Revenue announced yesterday that from 16th October all cigarettes available for sale must be marked with distinctive digital stamps as laid down by decree No. 3/2022, issued in May. From that date any cigarettes not having the digital stamp will either be destroyed or confiscated. The system is to be extended later to include other tobacco products such as heated tobacco, hookahs and e-cigarettes.
2nd September 2022
- India: The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is cracking down on advertising agencies to ensure strict compliance with the guidelines for preventing misleading advertisement, especially surrogate advertising. The ministry noticed that these guidelines are not being complied with, and prohibited goods – such as chewing tobacco and gutkha – are still being advertised through surrogate goods and services. The ministry has also reiterated that the guidelines are equally applicable to the manufacturers of chewing tobacco.
31st August 2022
China (Macau): The Macau Legislative Assembly has unanimously approved a government amendment to the New Tobacco Control Law, which prohibits the manufacture, import, export, distribution and transport of oral tobacco and heated tobacco. Until now, both wholesale and retail have been prohibited in Macau, a special administrative region.
30th August 2022
Vietnam: The Ministry of Science and Technology has issued seven National Standards on Tobacco. They apply, among other things, to filtered and unfiltered combustible cigarettes and raw tobacco. Although heated tobacco is currently banned in Vietnam, these standards might be applied or serve as a reference for the regulation of heat-not-burn (HnB) products should they ever be allowed. Members of the single-party National Assembly have recently criticised what they regard as the loose management of novel tobacco products.
