Hong Kong is going ahead with plans to stub out vaping across the territory. The city’s health minister has confirmed that the government will move forward with its proposed ban on e-cigarettes and flavoured tobacco. Authorities will submit a bill to the Legislative Council in April to outlaw owning and using vaping devices and heated tobacco products. The prohibition will be implemented in stages, starting with outdoor spaces by the middle of next year, followed by indoor areas at a later date.
When will Hong Kong’s vaping ban start?
Hong Kong’s crackdown on vaping began in 2022, when the government banned the import, manufacture and sale of alternative smoking products like e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Speaking on a television programme over the weekend, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said he believed the time has come to take things further by forbidding vaping altogether. This is part of 10 short-term measures proposed last year to bring the smoking prevalence rate down to 7.8% from the 9.1% recorded in 2023.
Once the bill is approved, the administration will restrict e-cigarette use in public places by mid-2026 as, according to Lo, they are “relatively easier to define”. The Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance has stated that such areas in Hong Kong include paid or free spaces that the public can access or a shared area within a premises even if the public isn’t allowed entry there. Lo added that a more comprehensive ban will be enforced once authorities iron out the details about how to implement it in indoor areas.
Hong Kong’s other proposed anti-smoking rules
At present, travellers over 18 who enter Hong Kong are allowed to bring 19 sticks of duty-free cigarettes into the city for personal use. However, Lo also said that the government will introduce a new duty-paid labelling system to make the distinction between legal and illicit cigarettes — another one of the short-term measures suggested in June 2024. This will be followed by outlawing the sale of flavoured tobacco variants like shisha and non-menthol cigarettes.
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