KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Public health specialists and an anti-tobacco group have welcomed the move by several state governments to ban vape sales, even as such products are legal at the federal level.
Four state governments have either already banned the sale of e-cigarettes or vapes or are planning to do so, while three more states will consider proposals for prohibitions.
- Johor: Ban on the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes since January 1, 2016, by not issuing business licences.
- Terengganu: To ban the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes from August 1, 2025, by not issuing business licences.
- Kelantan: Never approved business licences for vape shops.
- Perlis: Perlis Fatwa Committee has banned e-cigarettes and vapes.
- Kedah: Plans to follow Terengganu in banning the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes.
- Penang: Open to banning the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes, awaiting proposal.
- Selangor: To discuss a proposal to ban the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes.
“Although the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852) has been enforced, enforcement is rather challenging,” said the Malaysian Public Health Physicians’ Association (PPPKAM) in a statement last Saturday.
“It’s difficult to monitor and control the actual content of vape liquids that are sold. Such products can have prohibited ingredients or hidden poisons that are difficult to trace. Plus, the business licences issued by local councils for electronic devices may be misused to sell vape products.”
The Smoke Free Malaysia Initiative under the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) welcomed state governments’ move to ban the sale of vapes as a “progressive step” towards Malaysia, as party to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), fulfilling the global Tobacco Endgame policy. The Tobacco Endgame targets to reduce smoking product usage to below 5 per cent by 2040.
“Regrettably, even with the enactment of Act 852, the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024, questions remain about the effectiveness of these standards in ensuring user safety, particularly concerning risks of battery explosions and the presence of harmful chemicals in vape liquids,” said the anti-tobacco group in a statement today.
“Global experience has shown that partial regulation of smoking products is insufficient to achieve significant reductions in the burden of smoking-related diseases. Therefore, the ban on vape sales must continue, supported by firm and consistent enforcement actions.
“We urge all state governments to remain steadfast in upholding the principles of the WHO FCTC and to accelerate efforts to protect Malaysians — especially children and youth — from the dangers of nicotine addiction and synthetic drug abuse via vape devices.”
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said recently that narcotics like methamphetamine, ecstasy, and even fentanyl – a synthetic opioid that is about 100 times more potent than morphine – have been detected in vape liquids in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s vape market has two kinds of products: open systems with refillable liquids that are mainly produced domestically and closed systems (pod-based or disposable vapes) that are primarily imported. With closed systems, the liquid is packaged as part of the product and cannot be removed.
The ban on vapes at the state level is a de facto prohibition, via the denial of business licences for sellers operating brick-and-mortar premises in certain states. It is still legal to vape or to possess e-cigarettes in those states as there is no federal prohibition.
Act 852 only bans the retail display of both conventional and electronic cigarettes outside specialised stores, as well as online and vending machine sales. The retail display ban came into effect last April 1, but CodeBlue previously reported that major convenience retail chain stores are still displaying cigarettes and vapes.
Act 852 also mandates graphic health warning labels on vape packaging, similar to existing labels on conventional cigarettes, and limits nicotine content in e-cigarettes to 20mg/ml, but these regulations are only scheduled to take effect on October 1 this year.
At the federal level, Malaysia had long prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes containing nicotine – until the Ministry of Health (MOH), under then-Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa, removed liquid and gel nicotine from the list of controlled substances under the Poisons Act 1952 on March 31, 2023. This triggered legal action from anti-tobacco groups that sought a judicial review.
Under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration, the federal government declassified liquid nicotine from the Poisons List to enable the taxation of vape liquids containing nicotine from May 1, 2023.
For one and a half years, following the delisting of liquid nicotine as a scheduled poison, e-cigarettes and vapes had no legal restrictions until Act 852 came into effect on October 1, 2024. The long absence of regulation likely contributed to the growth in Malaysia’s vape market.
According to a recently published study by Milieu Insight, Malaysia had a higher incidence of “alternative nicotine” products at 12.2 per cent than the Philippines (9.5 per cent) and Singapore (5.4 per cent).
In Malaysia, the incidence of e-cigarette or heated tobacco products (HTP) was highest among those aged 20 to 29 at 14.8 per cent. Over half of Malaysian smokers are expected to start using e-cigarettes, vapes, or HTP within the next six months.
Anwar’s administration had decoupled the generational end game (GEG) policy – which sought to ban tobacco and vape products for anyone born from 2007 – from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 when it was tabled and passed by the Dewan Rakyat in November 2023. The Attorney-General’s Chambers claimed that the generational smoking ban was unconstitutional.
It is unclear how the federal government will respond if more state governments or Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) ban the sale of e-cigarettes and vapes that will likely affect excise duty revenue from e-liquids containing nicotine, given that Putrajaya had legalised nicotine vape in the first place for tax ringgit.
The federal government also broke its promise to allocate “half of the revenue” from excise duties on vape liquids containing nicotine for the MOH, telling Parliament in July 2024 that it was unconstitutional to earmark federal revenue that must be paid into the federal consolidated fund.
“PPPKAM asks all state governments to take proactive steps in tightening control or considering an outright ban on vape sales,” said PPPKAM president Prof Dr Jamalludin Ab Rahman.
