Several models of e-cigarettes. Photo by Read/Le Nga
The Health Ministry is expected to add “harboring” and “using” e-cigarettes among violations, as well as gaining the authority to punish such violations, starting 2025.
At a Wednesday conference on e-cigarettes, Dinh Thi Thu Thuy, deputy head of the Department of Legal Affairs under the healthy ministry, said Vietnam has become the 6th Southeast Asian country and one among 43 countries in the world to ban e-cigarettes.
The ministry is now drafting documents relevant to the ban, before presenting them before authorities.
People manufacturing and trading banned goods can be fined up to VND1 billion ($39,315) and be jailed for up to five years in accordance with Vietnamese law.
Nguyen Tuan Lam, representative of the WHO in Vietnam, said fines for violations need to be severe enough to deter them.
Preventing online sales and advertisements needs to be a focus, while there needs to be constant campaigns to prevent violations, similar to how wearing motorbike helmets was enforced.
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