E-cig's to be legally defined as tobacco products

"Higher Smoking Age, Tobacco Advertising Ban Approved
October 25, 2016
BANGKOK — The interim cabinet on Tuesday approved a measure to raise the minimum smoking age to 20 from 18.
The increase was approved along with a raft of related measures to effectively ban all forms of advertising for the industry.
It also expanded the legal definition of tobacco products to apply to electronic devices and water pipes known locally as barakoo.
For more than a decade, cigarette use has declined in Thailand through concerted private- and public-sector efforts.
The measures will go to the interim legislature for adoption."

SOURCE: Higher Smoking Age, Tobacco Advertising Ban Approved

**Updated**

"New law to control Baragu sale approved
October 27, 2016
The cabinet yesterday approved a proposed amendment to laws on smoking which now will cover ‘Shisha’ or Baragu and electric cigarettes.

The new legislation will forbid the sale and advertising – direct or indirect; of all these products.

The proposed amendment is a merger of the 1992 Smoking Act and the Non-Smokers Protection Act and critically will now take into consideration other forms of smoking such as Baragu (Shisha) and electric cigarettes as well.

Also, no form of advertising for these products will now be allowed and importantly has increased the permissible smoking age from 18 to 20 years of age.

Sub-categories of the new legislation also place restrictions on the sale or advertising of smoking products on the social media as well as forbidding the portion or ‘part sale’ of cigarettes."

SOURCE: New law to control Baragu sale approved |

Control the sale or forbid the sale? The article states both.

**Updated**

Some info on the new tobacco law:

"The new tobacco law

The new Tobacco Product Control Act is an update on a previous law expanding the definition of what constitutes tobacco, said Lakkana Termsirikulchai, the director of the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center at Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Since the previous tobacco law was passed in 1992, Thailand’s tobacco industry has grown tremendously, Ms. Lakkana explained, adding that new tobacco products like electronic cigarettes and flavored shisha tobacco have been introduced to the market.

In 2003, Thailand ratified the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first international tobacco health treaty aimed at protecting people from the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, tobacco products, and breathing secondhand smoke. In order to comply with the FCTC, some sections of the previous law needed to be updated, Ms. Lakkana explained.

The new law also introduces additional restrictions on tobacco advertising, such as online advertising and promotional models. Moreover, it lays out strategies to prevent youth from accessing tobacco products. In addition, tobacco sales are now only permitted for consumers aged 20 and older, up from the present minimum age of 18.

The new law also bans the sale of single cigarettes and introduces a minimum package size of 20 cigarettes. Other strategies outlined in the WHO FCTC have also been implemented."

SOURCE: Nong Khai tobacco farmers fear new law – The Isaan Record

 

so does this mean that vaping is legal, if you are older than 20?

only import, selling and advertising is illegal?

 

I find it interesting that they banned the sale of individual cigarettes since the tax has already been paid when they were first sold in a pack. Over the more than 20 years that I have lived here I have seen the sale of individual cigarettes among the lower class Thai people as common practice. Good luck at stopping that.

 

I don't get it - same stuff different words? All I can gather that's changed is that if you're 18 and caught vaping you now face the additional legal problems associated with underage smoking - if any. Its not uncommon to see young kids buying cigarettes and alcohol from 7-11 or loose/4 packs of cigarettes from street vendors - as long as they claim its for their mum (and not for the equally underage kids crowding behind them and picking out different bottles of SPY) its all fine then.

If the sale and import is illegal, the BiB will still try and get you on possession of a prohibited item, and that seems to be what they've been using to harass people recently.

 

E-cigarettes are already a banned item, so what's the purpose in classifying a banned non-tobacco product as a tobacco product? If the goal is to completly eliminate vaping in the kingdom, the I would think that rather than associating it with a legal product, they would be pushing to place it on the controlled substance list as they did with Kratom leaf.

My hope is that this is the first step in creating regulation, controls and taxation on e-cigarettes, and ultimately lifting the ban.

The underlying purpose of Thailands tobacco laws seem to me to be compliance with WHO directives. While the WHO is no fan of vaping and thinks that countries that have banned it are just great, they recommend harsh regulations on the products.

"There is an urgent need to regulate the use of ENDS to maximize their potential and minimize health threats."
Source: World Health Organization, Regulate E-cigarettes to protect health

What concerns me as a forum member is this statement in the Thai PBS article:
"The new legislation will forbid the sale and advertising – direct or indirect; of all these products."

This law could be used to shutdown on-line vendors, facebook pages and vape related forums.

 

nothing but more confusing.

 

If there is one thing that I regularly experience in Thailand it is plenty of needless redundancy.

I want this to be true as well and would like to join you in this wishful thinking.

This is exactly what I feared as well. This is a very broad sweeping law.

 

I prefer to keep optimistic, E-cig to be legally defined as tobacco product is the first step needed to remove the ban on it, and I am quite happy they finally decided to consider e-cig as tobacco instead of prohibited narcotics ! The second step for them is to find a way to add taxes on e-cig products, just like cigarettes, and then we could vape freely (even at more expensive cost).