{"id":26910,"date":"2025-10-01T11:17:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T11:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=26910"},"modified":"2025-10-01T11:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T11:17:23","slug":"malaysia-plans-nationwide-vape-ban-by-mid-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/malaysia-plans-nationwide-vape-ban-by-mid-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia plans nationwide vape ban by mid-2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Malaysia is set to roll out a nationwide ban on vaping by the middle of next year, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has confirmed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prohibition will apply to both the sale and use of vapes and e-liquids, and is expected to be implemented in stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe effort is ultimately to finally ban vapes. But I cannot pre-empt the Cabinet\u2019s decision,\u201d Dzulkefly said at a press conference, according to The Star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cThe question is no longer if we ban vaping, but when,\u201d<\/strong> as quoted by The Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phased approach planned<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dzulkefly explained that the Ministry of Health will adopt a gradual approach to enforcement. A special expert committee has already submitted recommendations, which will be presented when the ministry tables a memorandum for Cabinet consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe expert committee is looking into the matter in detail and when we table the memorandum, all the recommendations will be presented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, Dzulkefly told parliament in a written reply that the government intended to impose a full ban on the sale of vapes and vape products \u201cas part of efforts to curb their misuse.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the phased implementation will begin with open-system vape devices and then extend to cover all categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open-system vapes allow users to manually refill devices with any liquid or substance, while closed systems use pre-filled pods that cannot be refilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

States already restricting sales<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The minister has previously supported decisions by six states – Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perlis, Kedah and Pahang – to stop issuing or renewing licences for vape retailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, Dzulkefly announced that Malaysia was ready to revisit banning vapes, describing the move as a \u201cbelated attempt.\u201d At the time, he also said that legislation banning vaping without tackling its availability would amount to \u201cempty legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He suggested that a regulatory framework could give authorities control over \u201cthe safety of devices and content of [vaping] liquid to make sure they adhere to standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy in flux<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia has shifted its stance on vaping in recent years. In 2015, the country\u2019s health ministry sought to restrict the sale of vapes after a rapid rise in popularity, particularly among young people. Enforcement, however, was inconsistent, with some states moving ahead of national policy to block licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new timeline outlined by Dzulkefly puts the country on course for a nationwide prohibition by mid-2026, subject to Cabinet approval of the memorandum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 11 September, he told reporters the Cabinet paper was being finalised but could not disclose details until discussions were complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malaysia is set to roll out a nationwide ban on vaping by the middle of next year, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has confirmed. The prohibition will apply to both the sale and use of vapes and e-liquids, and is expected to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990005,"featured_media":26911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[335],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-26910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-malaysia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26917,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26910\/revisions\/26917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26910"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=26910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}