Excise tax on vape products difficult without proper law: Noor Hisham

 

Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the newly-announced 10 percent excise tax on all electronic and non-electronic smoking devices will be difficult to implement without the Tobacco Control Act which has yet to be tabled in Parliament.

He explained that vape liquids containing nicotine currently fall under the jurisdiction of the Poisons Act 1952.

“The Health Ministry needs to examine further before we implement it, that is to see whether there are any contradictions or overlaps with any provision under the Poisons Act.

“The new Tobacco Control Act needs to be completed immediately and tabled. The act is currently with the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and without this act, vape liquids aside from those containing nicotine are very difficult to control and the tax will be difficult to implement,” he said during his daily Covid-19 press conference at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya today.

He said there would need to be “refinements” on how to implement the excise tax.

It was announced in yesterday’s Budget 2021 that all electronic and non-electronic cigarette devices including vaping devices will be subjected to a 10 percent excise tax effective January next year.

Non-electronic devices include shisha pipes. The excise tax does not apply to regular cigarettes.

The Tobacco Control Act was supposed to be tabled in Parliament by the Pakatan Harapan government earlier this year.

However, the Harapan administration was toppled and replaced by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government in February before the bill could be tabled. - Mkini