Market & legal data for business in the global tobacco sector in Colombia

16th May 2024: Colombia: President Gustavo Petro has signed the Vaping Products Bill, press reports. The bill restricts access to heated tobacco products (HTPs), including heating devices, and nicotine pouches by under-age consumers and limits advertising and promotion. It also imposes labelling and packaging restrictions, such as health warnings, on those products. The bill has entered into force today. However, its provisions concerning advertising and labelling and packaging will not be applicable until May 2025.
7th March 2024: Colombia: The Vaping Products Bill was passed yesterday, 6th March, at its last vote in the Chamber of Representatives (Colombia’s lower chamber). The bill aims to restrict access to heated tobacco products (HTPs), including heating devices, by under-age consumers and to limit advertising and promotion. It also intends to impose labelling and packaging restrictions, such as health warnings.
13th February 2023: Colombia: Discussions around the Vaping Products Bill started last week, press reports. The newly introduced bill aims to restrict access to heated tobacco products by under-age consumers and limit advertising and promotion. It also intends to impose labelling and packaging restrictions, such as health warnings. Asovape, the largest Colombian vaping association, has said that while the age restriction envisaged in the bill is necessary, respect should be shown for adults who decide to use these products as an alternative to cigarettes.
6th October 2022: Colombia: President Gustavo Petro has decided not to increase the tax on tobacco products, press reports. Medical societies had been urging the government to raise the tax on heated tobacco and some members of the Chamber of Representatives have already criticised the decision not to do so as part of Petro’s overall tax reforms.
26th August 2022: Colombia: The representative from the Colombian Liberal Party, Julián Peinado, has introduced in the Chamber of Representatives a bill that would regulate heated tobacco products. If approved, the bill will explicitly ban the sale of heated tobacco products to minors and will subject them to packaging and labelling restrictions, including the duty to carry a health warning. The bill also proposes banning the sponsoring of sports and cultural events. The Colombian Liberal Party currently holds 32 seats out of 188 in the Chamber of Representatives, which makes it the party with the highest number of seats.
11th August 2022: Colombia: Julián Peinado of the Colombian Liberal Party will next week introduce in the Chamber of Representatives a bill regulating heated tobacco products, press reports. If approved, the bill will explicitly ban sales to minors and introduce packaging and labelling restrictions, including a mandatory health warning, and ban sponsorship of sporting and cultural events. As the bill has not yet been published, it is unknown whether it would also cover nicotine pouches. The Liberal Party is currently the largest party in the Chamber of Representatives, with 32 seats out of 188.
2nd August 2022: Colombia: The incoming government is planning to impose a specific excise duty on heated tobacco. President-elect Gustavo Petro and the National Federation of Departments (FND) have signed a document defining the working agenda for the next months, in which duty on heated tobacco is labelled as a priority. No details of the rate or model to be imposed have been disclosed. Currently, heated tobacco is taxed as combustible cigarettes, at a rate of COP2,563 ($0.60) per packet.
23rd May 2022: Colombia: The Ministry of Health reports that between 2016 and 2021, smoking prevalence fell from 8.3% to 5.6%, a drop of 1m in the number of smokers in Colombia. The ministry has not revealed figures for the number of users of e-cigarettes or heated tobacco.

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