Many experts have suggested establishing a legal framework to control new-generation tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, and prohibit their use among students.
The Cambodian Government has implemented a value-added tax (VAT) on cigarettes to combat the health risks associated with smoking and tobacco products.
Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam Angela Pratt has called on the country to raise tobacco tax and prices, which are still among the world’s lowest.
Vietnam is among the 15 countries with the largest number of adult male smokers in the world, mainly due to easy access to cigarettes triggered by the low tobacco tax and emergence of various types of e-cigarettes.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has demanded enhancing communications along with examination and settlement of the purchase, sale, and trading of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, which haven’t been licensed in Vietnam.
The trading of new-generation tobacco products is popular around the world in recent years, leading to an increase in the rate of new-generation cigarette use, especially among the young, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan told a seminar in Hanoi on April 27.
The Ministry of Finance has proposed to increase the special consumption tax (SCT) on a number of items harmful to health including tobacco, beer, and alcoholic products to limit imports, production and consumption.
The use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, has been increasing among young people, leading to students experiencing psychosis, hallucinations or respiratory failure due to substances in e-cigarettes, resulting in hospitalisation.
A workshop providing the press with information on the use of tobacco in Vietnam, challenges in minimising tobacco use and solutions to them was held by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Hanoi on November 23.
A mixed excise regime with a suitable roadmap is a reasonable way to increase the special consumption tax on tobacco, a conference titled “Special consumption tax – Harmonising the State budget and business development” heard in Hanoi.
The Indonesian Government is planning to tighten its relatively lax regulations on smoking in a bid to curb the increasing number of child smokers in the country.
Thailand’s National Tobacco Products Control Committee has resolved to ban sales of electronic cigarette products containing cannabis extracts, along with traditional cigarettes and cigars containing cannabis.
It is essential to issue a stronger policy to prevent the use of e-cigarettes among youths, heard a meeting held by the Health Ministry’s Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund in Hanoi on April 7.
Officers tasked with preventing fake goods, trade fraud and smuggling in Ho Chi Minh City and southern border provinces have been forced to work hard ahead of Tet (Lunar New Year), which falls on February 12 this year.
Vietnam has seen certain achievements made in tobacco harm prevention and control but challenges continue to emerge, including the increasing trend of smoking e-cigarettes, Associate Professor and Dr Luong Ngoc Khue has said.
Vietnam should not legalise the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heated-tobacco-products (HTPs) immediately but conduct a pilot phase allowing the production, import and trading of this new-generation cigarettes in the country, officials have said.
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