KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad and the government have less than two weeks to file an appeal to a High Court decision that nullified the delisting of liquid nicotine.
K. Shanmuga, a lawyer for three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that won their judicial review of the 2023 removal of liquid nicotine from the Poisons List under the Poisons Act 1952, said no appeal has been served on his firm yet.
“Appeal from the High Court to the Court of Appeal is 30 days. June 14 is a Sunday, so the last day is June 15,” Shanmuga told CodeBlue yesterday.
When asked if an appeal could be filed past the 30-day deadline, the lawyer said respondents must get permission to extend time.
High Court judge Aliza Sulaiman ruled on May 15 that an order gazetted by then-Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa on March 31, 2023, to remove liquid and gel nicotine used for e-cigarettes and vape from the Poisons List was “irrational”.
She also ruled that the minister’s exemption was done without proper or adequate consultation with the Poisons Board.
The health minister (now Dzulkefly) and government are the first and second respondents respectively in the lawsuit filed by the Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC), the Malaysian Green Lung Association (MGLA), and Voice of the Children (VoC) three years ago.
Kee Shu Min, another lawyer for the applicants, said recently that vape businesses may be committing a criminal offence by selling nicotine vapes after the High Court decision because the verdict means that liquid nicotine continues to remain in the Poisons List.
Scheduled poisons can only be dispensed by a licensed pharmacist or a registered medical practitioner.
On World No Tobacco Day last May 31, the health minister didn’t announce if he would refrain from appealing the High Court ruling, but simply told the public about the dangers of tobacco and smoking products.
Dzulkefly and the Ministry of Health (MOH) also have yet to state definitively if nicotine vapes are effectively prohibited due to the court ruling.
Neither has the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced if it will stop collecting excise duties on nicotine-containing e-liquids, since the government cannot tax illegal products.
