According to medical experts, using regular cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, or heated tobacco products is harmful to health and causes many dangerous diseases.
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| Police and market management forces inspect an electronic cigarette business in Bien Hoa City. Photo: Tran Danh |
* Protecting people under 18 from tobacco
To protect people under 18 years old from the harmful effects of tobacco, the 2012 Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms strictly prohibits the following acts: People under 18 years old using, buying, and selling tobacco; employing people under 18 years old to buy and sell tobacco; selling or supplying tobacco to people under 18 years old; mobilizing or forcing others to use tobacco...
Therefore, Article 31 of the 2012 Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control stipulates that agencies, organizations and individuals who violate the law on tobacco harm prevention and control will be subject to disciplinary action or administrative sanctions depending on the nature and severity of the violation. If damage is caused, compensation must be made in accordance with the law. Violating individuals may be prosecuted for criminal liability in accordance with the law.
Specifically, Decree 117/2020/ND-CP dated September 28, 2020 of the Government on administrative sanctions in the health sector stipulates that the act of selling or supplying cigarettes to people under 18 years of age shall be fined from 3-5 million VND (Article 26); using people under 18 years of age to buy cigarettes shall be fined from 500,000 to 1 million VND (Article 29). Meanwhile, Article 23 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP dated August 26, 2020 of the Government on administrative sanctions in commercial activities, production, trading of counterfeit and prohibited goods and protection of consumer rights stipulates that the act of using people under 18 years of age to sell cigarettes shall be fined from 1-2 million VND.
* Which cigarettes are banned?
According to Clause 1, Article 2 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms 2012, tobacco is a product made entirely or partly from tobacco ingredients, processed in the form of cigarettes, cigars, shredded tobacco, pipe tobacco or other forms. In addition to domestically produced tobacco in accordance with legal regulations on standards, licenses, production and circulation conditions, etc., there are also imported tobacco.
Vice President of the Provincial Lawyers Association Nguyen Thanh Son said, according to Circular 37/2013/TT-BTC dated
30-12-2013 of the Ministry of Finance regulating the import of cigarettes and cigars, the following cigarettes and cigars are on the import list: cigars, double-cut cigars, small cigars and cigarettes, made from tobacco leaves or from tobacco leaf substitutes. Cigars, double-cut cigars and small cigars, made from tobacco leaves. Cigarettes made from tobacco leaves. Beedies. Cigarettes containing cloves. Cigarettes made from tobacco leaf substitutes...
"Cigarettes and cigars that are not on the list of permitted imports are not allowed to be imported and if they are available on the market, they are considered prohibited goods for circulation and use," noted lawyer Nguyen Thanh Son.
In addition, the use of electronic cigarette products is currently increasing rapidly, especially among students. Many students have had to be hospitalized due to nicotine poisoning and substances contained in the solution of this product. Electronic cigarette products are currently not allowed to be imported, traded and circulated legally in Vietnam.
Therefore, on May 18, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 4850/UBND-KGVX on strengthening propaganda on the harmful effects of tobacco; inspecting and handling the purchase, sale and use of new tobacco products and organizing the response to World No Tobacco Day on May 31, National No Tobacco Week from May 23 to 31, 2023 and strengthening the enforcement of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms 2012.
According to the Provincial People's Committee, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, in addition to the same harmful effects as regular cigarettes, also pose potential risks and give rise to social evils, especially the use of drugs and other addictive substances, which negatively affect the health and lifestyle of young people, while causing immediate and long-term health, economic and social harm.
At the 5th Session of the 15th National Assembly on May 23, delegates proposed that the National Assembly consider including in the 2023 Law and Ordinance Development Program the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2012 Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control to control and restrict the use of e-cigarettes and new-generation cigarettes. Because the 2012 Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control has provisions prohibiting people under 18 years of age from using, buying and selling cigarettes; prohibiting the sale and supply of cigarettes to people under 18 years of age; prohibiting people under 18 years of age from buying and selling cigarettes. However, the authorities cannot handle this behavior with regard to e-cigarettes because the concept of "cigarettes" is not mentioned in the law.
| At the 5th Session of the 15th National Assembly on May 23, National Assembly deputies proposed that the National Assembly study and find a suitable form to soon add electronic cigarettes and new generation cigarettes to the subjects of regulation of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms 2012. |
Doan Phu
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