Market and legal data for the vapour sector in Malaysia

8th September 2023: Malaysia: Yesterday, 7th September, the High Court denied the petition of anti-tobacco groups to temporarily suspend the health minister's order excluding nicotine-containing e-liquids from the Poisons Act while awaiting a judicial review, press reports. The petition, issued within the context of the lawsuit filed by three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) against the same minister's order, has been rejected because the applicants have not shown "special circumstances" for the suspension. The Court has set the hearing date for 6th December.
1st September 2023: Malaysia: The Consumers Association of Penang (a state in the northwest) has urged the government to ban vaping products for the sake of protecting minors and public health. The organisation bases its call on the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022, according to which vaping among teens aged between 13 and 17 rose from 9.8% in 2017 to 14.9% in 2022.
16th August 2023: Malaysia: Yesterday, 15th August, the High Court allowed for the lawsuit filed in July by the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control against the minister of health, Zaliha Mustafa, and the government to proceed, press reports. The lawsuit, which seeks to revoke the minister’s decision to delist nicotine-containing e-liquids from the poisons list in March this year, will continue to be heard by the court, as the government has not opposed that.
10th July 2023: Malaysia: Following the lawsuit filed last week against the minister of health, Zaliha Mustafa, and the government for delisting nicotine-containing e-liquids from the poisons list in March this year, the minister has declared that the declassification is not a problem, and that it does not mean that the Ministry of Health is disregarding child health, press reports. The delisting of nicotine-containing e-liquids has left e-cigarettes unregulated in the country, meaning they can be sold to minors.
3rd July 2023: Malaysia: The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control – an umbrella organisation that consists of more than 40 anti-tobacco organisations – has filed a lawsuit against the minister of health, Zaliha Mustafa, and the government for delisting nicotine-containing e-liquids from the poisons list in March this year, leaving them unregulated in the country, press reports. The organisation considers that the minister's actions are disproportionate "because the Minister, who was under a duty to protect public health, had in fact failed in that duty and instead prioritised revenue collection".
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.
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 vaping 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 e-cigarettes.
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 vaping 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 vaping 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.
6th April 2023: Malaysia: Following the recent exclusion of nicotine-containing e-liquids from the Poisons list, vaping manufacturers have been given until 30th April to register their activities with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, press reports. The finance ministry said that registration could be done online, and has issued guidelines to that end.

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