Vietnam May Scrap New Tobacco Tax Regulation as Health Minister Warns of Misunderstanding

According to a report by Baovanhoa on November 24th, Vietnamese Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan stated at a special meeting of the working group on amending the excise tax law on November 22nd that she recommended removing the provision for imposing excise tax on novel tobacco products, as it can easily lead to misunderstanding.

The Health Minister proposed removing Section 12 from the draft law, which pertains to the imposition of a special consumption tax on specific imported, produced, and sold categories of new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.

She explained that currently, the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act has not yet regulated any new types of tobacco, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco. Therefore, it is unreasonable to include them in the tax scope without legal basis.

In addition, Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the draft stipulates: "If necessary, based on changes in economic and social conditions, the government may amend the specific consumption tax targets in this article as deemed appropriate." The minister pointed out that this provisional provision could be misunderstood as allowing for the production and sale of these products.

In the cigarette tax rate table, the Ministry of Health also recommends eliminating the measurement unit in milliliters (ml) as cigarettes and their ingredients do not contain e-liquid components. E-liquid components are only found in e-cigarettes, so regulations should not be supplemented with measurements in milliliters, as this could be seen as regulatory support for the sale of e-cigarettes.

The minister also urged the government to ban e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and other new tobacco products to prevent more people from becoming addicted to nicotine. She pointed out that the Ministry of Health will push for amendments and supplements to the "Tobacco Hazard Prevention and Control Law" in the future.