KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 — The Health Ministry plans to draft new legislation by year end to regulate electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, amid the emergence of heated tobacco devices.
theSun reported Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad as telling a press conference yesterday that the proposed law would include penalties for illegal use of the products.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye told theSun that all tobacco products would soon be covered under a single law.
“This will put cigarettes, e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices and vapes under one umbrella,” he was quoted saying.
The local daily reported that tobacco companies wanted clear regulations on those products as they believed the Control of Tobacco Products Regulations 2004 did not sufficiently cover the marketing of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco devices that emit a vapour instead of smoke.
Philip Morris International (PMI), the largest tobacco company in the world, launched a heated tobacco device called IQOS in Malaysia last November, selling it at selected specialty stores in the Klang Valley, Penang, and Johor Baru.
PMI’s competitors British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco, however, have yet to launch their heat-not-burn products here.
