New e-cigarette policies in the UK, Malaysia, and Thailand attract attention

Recently, the new policies of three important overseas e-cigarette market countries have attracted the attention and praise of domestic practitioners, who have expressed their optimism about the future development prospects of e-cigarettes. One is that the British government officially supports the use of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool; the other is that Malaysia will legalize and tax nicotine e-cigarettes; and the other is that Egypt abolished the sale, import and marketing of e-cigarettes since 2015 Ban.

1. In October, the UK government website updated the latest policy on e-cigarettes. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is issuing updated guidelines to pave the way for smokers who wish to quit smoking to issue medicinal-licensed e-cigarette products . The British medical regulatory agency will work with e-cigarette manufacturers to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the product. This will help the UK achieve its goal of becoming smoke-free by 2030.

2. In October, Malaysian Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin notified the World Health Organization that the country will regulate and levy taxes on e-cigarette products to prevent young people from contacting e-cigarette products. At present, Malaysia has banned the sale of consumer products containing nicotine. If the New Deal means that Malaysia may legalize the production, import and sale of nicotine e-cigarettes.

3. In September, Egypt abolished the ban on the sales, import and marketing of e-cigarettes since 2015. This decision will undoubtedly pave the way for the enactment of appropriate regulations to curb the illegal trade of electronic cigarette devices and tools "e-cigarettes", which will help eliminate the growing crisis in Egypt due to this illegal trade.

Egypt is now aligned with the global and Middle Eastern markets, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, all of which have legalized the marketing and consumption of e-cigarettes. The decision to remove the ban has been well received by the largest and most important manufacturers and consumers. By encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises, this will greatly benefit Egypt’s overall investment environment and manufacturers’ investment, opening new stores, and importing rechargeable e-cigarette equipment and tools into the market, thereby creating new job opportunities.