Globally, tobacco causes more than 8 million deaths each year, including about 1.6 million deaths from inhaling secondhand smoke.
According to representatives of the Ministry of Health, although the work of preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco has achieved some initial results, people, especially teenagers, still easily access tobacco products.
This situation poses an urgent requirement to strengthen control over the retail tobacco network to reduce supply and limit access to products.
At a workshop to respond to World No Tobacco Day 2026 organized by the Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Fund - Ministry of Health on May 22, Ms. Tran Thi Van Ngoc - Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management - said that the Ministry of Health is submitting to the Government a draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms. The draft law needs to be completed and sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee before July 31, 2026 to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval at the second session, 16th National Assembly (October 2026).
In which, the Ministry of Health proposed that the Government approve 2 policies: "Prohibiting the production, trading, storage, transit, transportation, advertising, promotion, sponsorship, harboring, and use of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and other new tobacco"; "Prohibiting wholesale and retail establishments of tobacco from displaying tobacco in any form".
Regarding the opinion on supplementing the policy "establishing a generation of Vietnamese people completely free from cigarette smoke starting from people born after 2010" as proposed by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health has adjusted the policy name to suit the comments of Government members, to "Ban people born from January 1, 2010 onwards from buying and using cigarettes".
At the same time, the Ministry of Health has conducted a thorough impact assessment of the policy "Prohibiting people born from January 1, 2010 and later from buying and using tobacco".
Policy impact assessment results show that if implemented and complied with, this policy will be very effective in reducing smoking rates, rapidly reducing the number of passive smokers, protecting people's health, reducing large costs for healthcare and losses caused by labor productivity loss.
However, to ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of this policy, the unity and support of the National Assembly, the Government, relevant ministries and sectors, especially the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the support of the people and the synchronous implementation of measures in controlling the purchase and sale of cigarettes for this target group, specifically such as: Strengthening communication with sellers and buyers; ensuring compliance at points of sale through accurate and consistent year of birth verification; reducing retail points and strictly handling violations.
At the same time, maintain the policy of supporting detoxification for smokers. Therefore, the Ministry of Health proposes that the Government consider and decide on whether to include policy 3: "Prohibiting people born from January 1, 2010 onwards from buying and using tobacco" in the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms at this time or to plan to include it at a time more suitable to Vietnam's socio-economic conditions.
According to MSc. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control Fund (Ministry of Health), tobacco not only causes serious harm to health but also creates a large economic burden, with estimated health costs and economic losses of about 108,700 billion VND per year, equivalent to 1.14% of GDP.
One of the proposed solutions is to ban wholesale and retail establishments from displaying cigarettes in any form. According to a report evaluating 13 years of implementing the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, up to 82.5% of points of sale violated regulations on display exceeding the permitted quantity (one pack, one tube or one box for each tobacco brand). Violations of tobacco advertising on the internet also increased sharply, from 0.8% in 2015 to 5.1% in 2020.
Through researching international experience and domestic practice, it is necessary to supplement regulations prohibiting wholesale and retail establishments from displaying cigarettes in any form" - Ms. Huong emphasized.
