Malaysian court rejects application on liquid nicotine regulation; hearing set for December 6

Malaysia’s High Court has rejected an application by three civil society groups to temporarily place liquid and gel nicotine back under the Health Ministry’s regulatory control.

According to a breaking report by Malaysia’s Malay Mail on September 7, the High Court rejected an application by anti-tobacco groups seeking to halt the exemption of liquid nicotine from the poisons list pending judicial review. 

The three civil society groups had hoped the court would issue an order to temporarily restore liquid nicotine to the poisons list before their lawsuit against the health minister could be heard, but they were unsuccessful. 

High Court Judge Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh rejected the three groups’ application for a “stay,” or suspension, of Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa’s decision to remove vape liquids from the poisons list.

In rejecting the stay application, the judge said the three civil society groups needed to demonstrate special circumstances to justify suspending the health minister’s March 31 order. 

Shanmuga, counsel for the civil society groups, said the stay application had been dismissed, adding that the High Court found his clients had not provided sufficiently detailed grounds for the stay. However, he said the High Court did agree to hear the lawsuit on an urgent basis and has scheduled the hearing for December 6. 

Before vape liquids and vape gels were removed from the poisons list, products intended for non-medical treatment purposes—classified as poisons—could not legally be sold to children. Now these products can be openly and legally sold to children.

If the three civil society groups had succeeded in obtaining a temporary stay, these vape liquid products would have been temporarily brought back under the Health Ministry’s regulation and prevented from being openly and legally sold to children.