E-cigarettes in Malaysia

Global business and regulatory news and updates from the vape industry

7th October 2024

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11th July 2024

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Daily regulatory tracking of the e-cigarette sector. It includes weekly podcasts and monthly compilations

30th September 2024: Malaysia: Today, the Ministry of Health issued the set of regulations developing the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, putting the new legal framework for vaping products into operation starting tomorrow, 1st October. Among other things, the regulations envisage packaging and labelling requirements, including a health warning; an online and vending machine sales ban; usage restrictions; mandatory registration of vaping products and its process; a maximum nicotine content of 35 mg/ml, which will be changed to 20 mg/ml from 1st October 2025; and a maximum volume per cartridge or disposable pod of 3 ml, which will be changed to 2 ml starting 1st October 2026. An order establishing the list of laboratories accredited to carry out the testing has also been issued. The Ministry of Health previously said it would give a grace period for the industry to adapt to the new regulations, which will end on 1st April 2025.
25th September 2024: Malaysia: Yesterday (24th September), minister of health Dzulkefly Ahmad posted on social media that the implementing regulations of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 will be issued on 1st October 2024, making the act and regulations enter into force on the same day. The act was published in February 2024 to establish a regulatory framework for vaping and heated tobacco products, but cannot enter into force until the implementing regulations are issued by the Ministry of Health.
17th September 2024: Malaysia: Health groups representing medical doctors, pharmacists, parents and youths have called for the implementation of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 and its regulations by October, press reports. The act was published in February but will not enter into force until the implementing regulations are issued by the Ministry of Health. The 20 health groups demand point-of-sale display bans, prohibition of sales online and via vending machines, and mandatory health warnings for vaping products.
16th September 2024: Malaysia: The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP), an organisation upholding consumer rights and interests in Malaysia, has called on the government to urgently ban the display of vapes at payment counters in shops, press reports. The draft regulations to implement the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, which would regulate vaping products, have still not been published.
3rd September 2024: Malaysia: Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad recently said the draft regulations implementing the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 are in the final stages of approval by the attorney general, and that the regulations, alongside the act, are expected to be enforced by October, press reports. The health minister said in May of this year that the regulations would be issued in June, and in July, he said they would be issued in August. In August, the minister of health said that the regulations would be issued by the end of this year. The regulations will comprehensively regulate e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
2nd August 2024: Malaysia: The government has collected MYR141.1m ($31.4m) in vape tax revenue between 2021 and 2024, with MYR82.5m ($18.3m) coming from nicotine-free e-cigarettes and MYR58.5m ($13m) from nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. E-liquids are subject to an excise duty of MYR0.40 ($0.09) per ml, while devices are subject to a tax of 10% of their retail price.
2nd August 2024: Malaysia: The minister of health said yesterday (1st August) that the regulations implementing the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 will be issued by the end of this year, press reports. The regulations would put the act, published in February, into operation. The implementing regulations keep being postponed, as the health minister said in May of this year that they would be issued in June, and in July, he said they would be issued in August. E-cigarettes have remained unregulated in the country since March 2023, when the previous minister of health removed nicotine-containing e-liquids from the Poisons Act 1952.
19th July 2024: Malaysia: Former minister of health and current minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Zaliha Mustafa urged the Ministry of Health to step up the monitoring of sales of e-cigarettes through vending machines, press reports. Mustafa also calls for the ministry to take regulatory action if monitoring proves not to be enough. E-cigarettes remain unregulated in Malaysia, pending the publication of the developing regulations of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024.
2nd July 2024: Malaysia: The minister of health reportedly said yesterday (1st July) that the regulations implementing the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 will be issued in August this year. The regulations would develop the law, published in February, which created a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes. The regulations are also needed to make the law enter into force. The health minister said in May that these regulations would be issued in June, but it did not happen. E-cigarettes have remained unregulated in the country since March 2023, when the previous minister of health removed nicotine-containing e-liquids from the Poisons Act 1952.
17th May 2024: Malaysia: The health minister said yesterday (16th May) that the regulations implementing the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 will be issued in June 2024, press reports. These regulations are needed to implement the law, published in February 2024, which created a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
14th March 2024: Malaysia: Deputy minister of health Lukanisman Awang Sauni said today in the parliament that plain packaging and flavour restrictions are being considered for e-cigarettes 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.

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