Vietnam Proposes Ban on New Tobacco Products in 2024

According to a report from plo.vn on April 7th, Vietnam currently lacks legal regulations for new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. In a recent draft report submitted to the government, the Ministry of Health in Vietnam called for a ban on the production, sale, import, and promotion of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and other new tobacco products.

The report summarizes the effectiveness of the implementation of the Tobacco Control Law over the past 10 years. It shows that the regular cigarette smoking rate among adult males has decreased by an average of 0.5% per year, dropping from 47.4% in 2010 to 41.1% in 2021. The smoking rate among adolescents aged 13 to 17 has also decreased by nearly half, from 5.36% in 2013 to 2.78% in 2019. Additionally, the proportion of passive smoking in homes, public places, and workplaces has also significantly decreased.

Despite these encouraging achievements, the use of new tobacco products (primarily e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products) is on the rise, particularly among young people. In 2019, 2.6% of teenagers aged 13 to 17 were using e-cigarettes. This number increased to 8.3% in the 2023 survey. Among adults, the e-cigarette usage rate in 2023 was 3.6%, compared to just 0.2% in the 2015 survey.

In addition, Vietnam's current legal regulatory mechanism is unable to prevent the use of new tobacco products. The Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Law states, "Cigarettes refer to products made from all or part of tobacco raw materials, processed into cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, tobacco, or other forms of products." Therefore, regardless of processing, cigarettes are products made from tobacco and there are no regulations on accompanying accessories. This law does not regulate new generation tobacco products, so e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products do not fall under the definition of tobacco products as defined by the Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Law.

The Health Department stated that due to the lack of clear definitions for these products, there are currently differing opinions between regulatory agencies, public health organizations, and companies. At the same time, regulating these products also faces numerous challenges.

At the same time, Vietnam currently lacks strong regulations or penalties in place to prevent the production and sale of new tobacco products. Therefore, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health plans to submit a resolution at a parliamentary meeting in October 2024 to ban the production, sale, import, and advertising of new tobacco products. This legislation will clearly define concepts such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, and include provisions to prohibit the production, sale, import, and advertising of new tobacco products like e-cigarettes, as well as outline the responsibilities of relevant agencies and organizations.