Malaysia to roll out vape ban in phases
Malaysia has announced plans to phase in a nationwide ban on vapes, starting with open-system devices, as the government faces growing pressure to curb what it calls the misuse of vaping products.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the first stage of the prohibition would target refillable vapes, with the ban eventually extended to cover all types of vape devices.
An inter-agency discussion will be held to finalise the implementation plan, which will then be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
“The outcome of these deliberations and the proposed implementation plan will be presented to the Cabinet for policy approval, which will form the basis for the full ban on vapes in Malaysia,” Dzulkefly said.
Currently, Malaysia only prohibits the online sale of vapes. But users easily bypass the restriction by searching for specific brand names rather than generic terms such as “vape” on e-commerce platforms and search engines.
The announcement comes less than a year after Malaysia introduced Act 852 — the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 — which banned the sale of tobacco and vape products to minors and regulated advertising, packaging, labelling, point-of-sale displays and online sales.
However, the act also formally recognised the vape industry, which Dzulkefly said complicates the legal path to an outright ban.
“This has created a ‘legitimate expectation’ under the law, meaning that if we now impose a sudden ban after establishing Act 852, we must be ready to face possible legal challenges,” he said.
Some Malaysian states have already acted independently. Perlis, Terengganu, Kedah and Pahang have moved to ban vape sales, while Johor and Kelantan have enforced similar bans since 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Another complication of a sweeping ban would be its economic impact on the burgeoning vape sales industry. In 2023, the market value of this industry reached RM3.48 billion (S$1.05 billion) in 2023 from RM2.27 billion in 2019, according to the Malaysia Vape Chamber of Commerce.
A 2023 Global Adult Tobacco Survey estimated that 1.4 million Malaysian adults — out of a population of 34.2 million — use vapes.
If implemented, the ban would place Malaysia alongside regional neighbours such as Brunei, Thailand and Singapore, which already prohibit vaping — in Singapore’s case under some of the strictest enforcement measures in the region.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
