Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in Malaysia

14th March 2024: Malaysia: Deputy minister of health Lukanisman Awang Sauni has said today in the parliament that plain packaging and flavour restrictions are being considered for heated tobacco products in the developing regulations of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, press reports. As we reported yesterday, the developing regulations are still under review and thus are subject to change.
14th March 2024: Malaysia: Deputy minister of health Lukanisman Awang Sauni has said today that the vaping and tobacco industry had successfully influenced the government to drop the Generational Endgame (GEG) provision from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, press reports. The GEG, envisaged in the first draft of the bill, proposed a ban on the sale of vaping and tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007, but the provision was dropped in the passed bill.
13th March 2024: Malaysia: The minister of health is submitting the developing regulations of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, which created a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, to the Cabinet for approval, press reports. The act, which was published in the Official Gazette on 2nd February 2024, will enter into force simultaneously with the entry into force of the developing regulations. The bill would also include herbal heated sticks under its scope. Currently, heated tobacco products fall under the general tobacco regulations in Malaysia, while herbal heated sticks remain unregulated.
13th February 2024: Malaysia: Wan Saiful Wan Jan, member of parliament (MP) for the opposition party Perikatan Nasional (PN), has reportedly urged the government to issue the necessary regulations to develop the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, renamed to Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 when it was published in the Official Gazette in February 2024. The bill creates a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs). Despite its publication in the gazette, the bill will not enter into force until stipulated by the Ministry of Health when it issues the developing regulations.
13th December 2023: Malaysia: In late November, Parliament passed the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, which creates a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs). The ban on the usage and sale of vaping and tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007, proposed in the first draft of the bill, has finally been dropped in the passed bill. Therefore, the bill now envisages notification requirements for vaping and tobacco manufacturers and importers, advertising restrictions and labelling requirements. The precise methods of product notification, alongside the specific labelling requirements applicable, will need to be prescribed by the Ministry of Health in subsequent regulations. The bill, which is pending publication in the Official Gazette, has also dropped the provisions relating to devices, leaving them unregulated.
6th November 2023: Malaysia: The government has decided to drop the ban on the usage and sale of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007 from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023. The decision was taken due to attorney general Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh’s opinion of the Generational Endgame (GEG) policy as unconstitutional, press reports. The bill would still introduce labelling and reporting requirements, as well as advertising restrictions for vaping and tobacco products.
13th October 2023: Malaysia: The Ministry of Health has launched a survey to gauge public opinion on the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, which proposes a ban on the sale and usage of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007, media reports. The survey is open to all Malaysian citizens and will be conducted through the MySejahtera app, which links to identity card numbers. Respondents will be asked five yes/no questions about their stance on smoking, vaping, the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, and on the generational endgame proposed by the bill. It is unclear if the survey will lead to a further delay of the bill’s tabling in the parliament for a second reading.
9th October 2023: Malaysia: The Ministry of Health confirmed today that the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 will not be tabled in the parliament tomorrow (10th October), as originally planned, and that instead it will be tabled in the near future, according to press reports. The postponement is “to allow for the consideration of other government matters in Parliament”.
6th October 2023: Malaysia: The minister of health, Zaliha Mustafa, has reportedly said that the revised version of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 will be tabled in the parliament for a second reading on 10th October, instead of 9th October as previously reported. The revised bill will be presented along with the report of the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC), which is expected to have proposed a few amendments to and recommendations for the bill.
4th October 2023: Malaysia: A revised version of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 will be tabled on Monday 9th October, after the bill was referred to the Health Parliamentary Special Select Committee last June following its first reading, press reports. The revised bill still proposes the same ban on the sale and usage of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born after 2007; it merely includes higher fines for tobacco and vaping suppliers to people born after 2007 and lowers fines for smokers and vapers born after 2007.
16th June 2023: Malaysia: Members of Parliament Ahmad Yunus Hairi and Khairil Nizam Khirudin, both from the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional, have called on the government to relist nicotine-containing e-liquids in the Poisons Act 1952. Press reports that Yunnus said the absence of regulations on e-cigarettes has led to a proliferation in the number of teenagers using them. The calls follow the referral of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 to the Health Parliamentary Special Select Committee immediately after the first reading in the parliament, a move that could delay the second reading of the bill until the next parliamentary session, which is expected to take place in October.

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