Malaysia to Legalize and Tax Nicotine Vaping Products

Today, on April 5, it was reported that Malaysia's Health Minister announced last Friday that the country will exempt nicotine used in e-cigarette liquids from the country's Poison Act. This decision opens the door for a large legal nicotine vaping market.

The Ministry of Finance has included taxes on e-cigarette products in its 2023 budget, which was announced in the official gazette on March 29. This tax took effect on April 1, including a consumption tax of 0.40 Malaysian Ringgit (RM)—approximately 9 cents—per milliliter of nicotine-containing e-liquid. This is the same tax rate as currently applied to zero-nicotine e-liquids.

The decision to remove nicotine from the official poison list is controversial, as it comes right after a meeting of the Poison Committee, which recommended against allowing consumers to sell nicotine. Nicotine was previously only available by prescription and for medical purposes. The Poison Committee and tobacco control advocates hope to maintain the ban on consumer nicotine products.

The government's decision was formally confirmed in a gazette announcement on March 30, which described amendments to the Poison Act, allowing nicotine to be used in the preparation of a smoking formulation in liquid or gel form through e-cigarettes and vaping devices.

This order was personally approved by Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa.

Opponents warn of a huge public health crisis

Despite the new tax and nicotine regulations, there are still no laws regulating e-cigarette products, advertising, or marketing. Since Malaysia's existing tobacco control laws do not include e-cigarettes, anti-vaping organizations argue that e-cigarettes are now completely unregulated and can even be sold to children.

Malaysia's Tobacco Control Committee Chairman M. Murallitharan stated that children can now use e-cigarettes without any legal repercussions, as there are no laws prohibiting this.

This argument is somewhat hypocritical, as Malaysia already has a large and unregulated vaping market and has sold a significant number of illegal nicotine vaping products—besides the zero-nicotine products legally sold in Malaysian vape shops.

The new law will simply allow nicotine vaping products to return from the black market to vape shops, where they can be sold to adults without the worry of occasional police raids.

"This decision may mark the beginning of one of Malaysia's biggest public health crises: a sharp increase in nicotine addiction among young people and children through vaping," said Azrul Mohd Khalib, CEO of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy. "We have already experienced a non-communicable disease crisis, with millions suffering from diabetes, cancer, hypertension, and obesity. This will be the next one."

Regulations are on the way

The 2022 Tobacco Products and Smoking Control Bill, which was shelved last year, will amend the country's existing rules to regulate tobacco and e-cigarette products. This bill also includes a controversial generational endgame clause that would make it illegal for anyone born after 2005 to sell nicotine consumer products. Malaysia's generational endgame law will include e-cigarette products, which is different from similar laws passed in New Zealand last year.

According to the Malay Mail, Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa announced on April 1 that the government will propose a similar bill as early as May to regulate nicotine use. She stated that the new law will also include a generational endgame plan. It is still unclear how the new rules and final laws will affect Malaysian states that have banned the sale of all e-cigarette products (at least five states).

Changes in Malaysia have been sporadic. The previous Malaysian government announced plans to regulate and tax e-cigarette products at the end of 2021, even proposing a detailed tax plan. The tax plan was quickly scrapped, and the control bill intended to regulate tobacco products and smoking was also postponed.

Malaysia is now expected to join several other Asian countries with legal, regulated vaping markets—especially China and the Philippines. A complete ban on e-cigarettes is more common, especially in Southeast Asia.