E-cigarettes in Malaysia

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.

Malaysia: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has told reporters that the details of the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill are to be discussed this week by a bipartisan special select committee, which he will chair. Jamaluddin has already accepted recommendations by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women, Children and Social Development, including dropping punishment for possession of vaping products by anyone born after 2007, although their use will remain punishable. The bill has sparked heated debate among MPs and others, despite reported calls by the King of Malaysia to support it.

Malaysia: The Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Electronic Cigarette Device) Order 2022 comes into effect today. It requires manufacturers and importers of e-cigarette devices and components to apply for a certificate to the inspection and testing body SIRIM QAS International before placing them on the market. E-cigs that comply with the Malaysian Standard on Electronic Cigarette Devices will be marked as such.

Malaysia: The Bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Health, Science and Innovation has recommended that the proposed generational ban on purchase of vape products should be delayed for three years, and that the ban should start with those born after 2008, instead of 2007, press reports. The committee wants a three-year evaluation period to assess the government’s preparedness to implement the ban and to assess the need for separate regulation of vaping products. It said that e-cigarettes have “harm reduction” characteristics compared to combustible tobacco.

Malaysia: A much-discussed bill banning the sale of vaping products to people born in or after 2007 was tabled in Parliament today. The bill does not mention nicotine but defines a “smoking device” as “any electronic device or a battery-operated device or other device, which is used to heat, vaporise, or burn a tobacco product, smoking substance, or substitute tobacco product for smoking”. It defines a “smoking substance” as “any substance or combination of substance comprising of propylene glycol, glycerol, or triethylene glycol for the purpose of smoking”, including nicotine-free e-cigarettes. The bill equates vaping with smoking, and proposes penalties for the purchase, possession and use of vaping products by anyone born after 1st January 2007.

Malaysia: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin today tweeted that, after having taken into account all the opinions expressed in stakeholder engagement sessions, sales of vaping products will be banned to those born in or after 2007, rather than 2005 as previously reported. In a separate tweet, Khairy said the “Generational Endgame” bill will be tabled in Parliament next week.

Malaysia: A poll of 40 members of Malaysia’s lower parliamentary chamber the Dewan Rakyat found only 12 said they would vote in favour of a bill banning the sale of vaping products to anyone born after 2005. Another 26 said they would decide how they would vote after the publication of the draft bill. The report by CodeBlue, a newspaper specialising in health matters, says most of those as yet uncommitted “appeared to lean towards opposing the tobacco bill in its current form, as they expressed various concerns with the proposed generational ban on tobacco and vape”.

Malaysia: The Cabinet yesterday approved the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill that sets out to ban the sale of vaping products to anyone born in or after 2005, press reports. The Cabinet’s approval allows health minister Khairy Jamaluddin to table the bill in Parliament, which he intends to do during the upcoming session, which begins on Monday, 18th July.