E-cigarettes in Asia

China: Ahead of the implementation on Saturday, 1st October, of the new national standard for e-cigarette products, the tobacco administration has published a notice reiterating that e-cigarettes intended for export must comply with the regulations of the destination country or region. If the destination country does not have relevant laws, the products must comply with Chinese rules. E-cigarette manufacturers with a tobacco monopoly manufacturer's licence who are engaging in exports should make export filings through the electronic cigarette trading management platform. The administration will accept objections from existing e-cigarette manufacturers from 8th to 31st October.

Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU): The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission decided last week to introduce traceability marking for e-cigarettes throughout the EAEU. The five member states – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia – will reportedly determine individually their own procedure and enforcement dates.

South Korea: The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency today warned of an increasingly widespread use by young people of flavoured tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, which it says are a gateway to smoking. The agency refers to a study showing a 12% increase between 2016 and 2022 in the use of flavoured tobacco products by smokers aged 13-39.

Malaysia: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has said he expects to finalise the review of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022 next week with the parliamentary special select committee in order to table it again in the upcoming parliamentary session, which starts on 3rd October, press reports. Khairy said MPs were generally in favour of the bill, which proposes a ban on vaping products for those born on or after 1st January 2007, and that most of the issues raised during the bill’s first reading had been resolved by the committee.