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View allAlternative tobacco and nicotine products in Malaysia
News analysis
Global business and regulatory news covering the alternative tobacco industry
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Daily regulatory updates of the tobacco alternative sector. It includes weekly podcasts and monthly compilations
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.12th June 2023
- Malaysia: The Ministry of Health presented the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, renamed to Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023, to the parliament for a first reading today. The bill still proposes the same ban on the sale and usage of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born after 2007, although the provision banning possession has been dropped. The bill sets out notification and labelling requirements, as well as advertising restrictions for e-liquids, empty e-cig devices, heated tobacco consumables and devices. However, the Ministry of Health is planning to delay indefinitely the enforcement of the generational-end-game for vaping and heated tobacco products, while enforcing immediately the generational-end-game for cigarettes, press reports.
6th June 2023
Malaysia: Health minister Zaliha Mustafa said today that the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, which seeks to ban the sale of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007, is scheduled to be retabled in Parliament on 12th June for a first reading, after gaining the support of the cabinet last week, press reports.
22nd May 2023
- Malaysia: The minister of health has said that the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 – which seeks to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1st January 2007 – will be discussed in the Cabinet this Friday, 26th May, with the hope of tabling it in the parliament this June once it is approved by the Cabinet, press reports. The bill also envisages notification, advertising and packaging requirements for heated tobacco products.
11th May 2023
Malaysia: The Ministry of Health said yesterday that the tabling of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, which seeks to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2007, will be postponed to next month, instead of this month as originally planned, press reports.
8th May 2023
- Malaysia: In a poll carried out by CodeBlue – a local newspaper specialising in health matters – with 31 MPs, 14 said that they would vote in favour of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, the bill that would ban the sale of tobacco products to everyone born after 1st January 2007. None of the polled MPs directly opposed the bill, as the rest of the surveyed MPs were mostly undecided. CodeBlue conducted a similar poll back in July 2022, when, out of 40 MPs surveyed, only 12 said they would vote in favour of the bill and 26 said they would decide how they would vote after the publication of the draft bill.
22nd February 2023
Malaysia: Answering a parliamentary question, the health minister Zaliha Mustafa said yesterday that she intends soon to reintroduce the 2022 Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill, which would ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 1st January 2007, “so enforcement can begin in 2024”.
13th December 2022
Malaysia: New health minister Zaliha Mustafa has said she plans to reintroduce the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 in the first sitting of Parliament next year, press reports. The bill proposes a ban on the sale and use of tobacco products to those born on or after 1st January 2007. Mustafa has also said she needs to review certain aspects of the bill, such as its implementation and timeline.
21st November 2022
- Malaysia: None of the three main coalitions in Malaysia got the amount of votes needed to hold a simple majority of seats in Parliament after the 19th November parliamentary election results, leading to extreme uncertainty over the formation of the next government. Khairy Jamaluddin, former minister of health and proposer of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 – a bill that proposes to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2007 – is highly unlikely to continue as minister of health as his party's coalition only won 30 of the 222 total seats in Parliament. Khairy has already accepted his electoral loss.
9th November 2022
Malaysia: Caretaker minister of health Khairy Jamaluddin said today that if the National Front (Barisan Nasional) wins the upcoming general election, to be held on 19th November, and he is reappointed to the post, he will reintroduce the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, popularly known as the Generational End Game Bill, press reports. He added that if the Alliance of Hope, currently the largest opposition group, wins the election, former health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad will also ensure that the bill is tabled. Dzulkefly was a member of the parliamentary committee reviewing the bill, which proposes a ban on the sale of tobacco products based on the potential purchaser’s birthdate. An analysis of the impact of the Malaysian elections on the sector is available in our Policy Radar.
10th October 2022
- Malaysia: Prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that Parliament will be dissolved today, paving the way for general elections, which are reportedly expected to be held in early November. The dissolution of the Parliament quashes the Ministry of Health's plans to re-table the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 in Parliament, which sought to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2007.
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