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The Ministry of Health proposed to add regulations to punish the use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 1 to 2 million VND, and repeat offenders will be fined double.
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The Ministry of Health is seeking comments on the draft decree amending and supplementing a number of articles in Decree No. 117/2020 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the health sector.
Accordingly, the ministry proposed a fine of 1-2 million VND for the act of harboring or using e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products. Repeat offenders will be fined double.
Violators' information will be reported to the authorities and schools for handling. Violating products will be confiscated and destroyed.
From 2025, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products will be included in the list of prohibited goods in Vietnam. Individuals and organizations that violate the regulations will be punished according to regulations.
Currently, the acts of manufacturing, trading, storing, transporting, and advertising e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are sanctioned in Decree 98/2020 and the Penal Code (subject to a fine of 100 million to 1 billion VND or imprisonment of 1 to 5 years).
Meanwhile, the acts of "using" and "harboring" have not yet been clearly regulated. Therefore, the Ministry of Health proposed to supplement the above regulations.
The rate of use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products in Vietnam is increasing rapidly, especially among children and adolescents.
From 2015 to 2020, the rate of e-cigarette smoking among adults (aged 15 and over) increased from 0.2% to 3.6%. Among students aged 13-17, the smoking rate increased from 2.6% (in 2019) to 8.1% (in 2023). Preliminary survey results in 11 provinces and cities for girls aged 11-18 showed that the rate of e-cigarette use was 4.3% in 2023.
TB (summary)