Information from the Ministry of Justice said that the Ministry of Health has just submitted a dossier for appraisal of the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 117/2020/ND-CP of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the health sector.
Notably, in this draft Decree, the Ministry of Health proposed to add Article 26a after Article 26 as follows: Article 26a. Violating regulations on the content and use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products
1. Fine from 3 million VND to 5 million VND for the use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
2. Fine from 5 million VND to 10 million VND for one of the following acts:
a) Lending or leasing locations under its ownership or under its management that are clearly known to let others use e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products;
b) Having a location under their ownership or under their own management, knowing others (not their grandparents, paternal grandparents, mothers, mothers, children, grandchildren, siblings, wife or husband) who are subjects of using e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products, although not allowing them to rent or borrow the location, but allowing them to illegally use e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
3. Remedial measures:
a) Forced destruction of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products for the acts specified in Clause 1 of this Article.
b) Sending a notice of administrative sanctions to the agency or organization or locality where the violator works, studies, or lives for that agency or organization to handle and remedy in accordance with the provisions, rules, regulations, treaties, and conventions of the agency, organization, or locality for the act specified in Clause 1 of this Article."
Previously, on November 30, 2024, the National Assembly issued Resolution No. 173/2024/QH15 on questioning activities at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly.
The Resolution has the content "The National Assembly agreed to ban the production, trading, import, storage, transportation, and use of electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products, gases, and addictive substances that are harmful to human health from 2025, ensuring public health, social order and safety; assigning the Government to specifically implement".
In the Appraisal Submission, the Ministry of Health said that the appearance of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products has led to a rapid increase in the rate of use of these products in children. This is extremely alarming among young people because these products are not only toxic and disease-causing, but also cause nicotine and drug addiction due to the "shadow" of electronic cigarettes mixed with drugs, affecting an entire future generation of the country.
Many arrests due to drug use in new cigarettes, or the situation of students being poisoned by new cigarettes leading to emergency care and hospitalization in the recent past have been reported.
