Kazakhstan imposes a total ban on e-cigarettes!

On August 20, it was reported that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan recently announced their support for banning e-cigarettes. Both ministries believe that e-cigarettes affect people's health, especially the younger generation, and therefore support the ban.

If the amendments to the Health Law are ultimately approved by the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the decision will take effect in 2024. This ban proposal has received support from both ministries, with the Ministry of Finance stating that nicotine e-liquids have been classified as excise tax goods since 2018. Additionally, the tax rate has been continuously increasing over the past three years: starting in 2023, the excise tax rate is 53 tenge/mL. The total excise tax revenue was 17 million tenge in 2020, 29 million tenge in 2021, 211 million tenge in 2022, and 680 million tenge in the first eight months of 2023. However, despite the stable increase in budget revenue, the Ministry of Finance supports the implementation of a ban on e-cigarettes and e-liquids. The document suggests imposing a prison sentence of up to three years for importing, manufacturing, purchasing, selling, or transporting e-cigarettes and e-liquids, and a fine of 25 MRP (86,250 tenge) for illegal buying and selling of goods that are prohibited or restricted by law. In July 2023, members of Kazakhstan's interdepartmental committee almost unanimously voted to completely ban the sale, import, export, and manufacture of e-cigarettes in Kazakhstan.