Malaysia: July Intro for Post-2005-Birth Nicotine Ban Bill

A new law in Malaysia that would ban the use of all vaping and other tobacco products for those who were born after 2005, will be presented to Parliament in July, said the country’s health minister, Khairy Jamaluddin.

This means that Malaysians who are 17 years old today will not be able to legally buy tobacco, vape, or e-cigarettes next year when they turn 18, the current legal age for smoking in Malaysia, or ever, in their lifetime. Neither will subsequent generations be ever permitted to purchase cigarettes and other smoking products.

Jamaluddin said that the bill was currently being finalized by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“I think in one to two weeks it will be completed, and then I can present it to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health and Technology,” he told the media after the launch of the national-level community health agent, MyCHAMPION, according to Malay Mail.

Earlier, in his speech, Khairy said that the introduction of the new law related to cigarettes was one of the efforts of the Ministry of Health (MOH) in intensifying the smoking cessation campaign among Malaysians.

“We will introduce a new law so that it is a legal offence to sell cigarettes to anyone born after 2005. But I think this is the first step towards us ending smoking for a generation. It is a generational end game,” he said. “Indeed enforcement will be a challenge. Nothing to stop these young people from asking adults to buy cigarettes for them.”

The government previously announced during the tabling of Budget 2022 plans to tax vape and e-cigarette liquids containing nicotine, essentially illegalizing vape products that are presently under a grey area of regulation.

It should be noted that tabling a bill means to introduce the bill to legislature in every country but the United States, where tabling means to place an already introduced bill on hold.