Exclusive | Hong Kong plans to ban vaping, possessing e-cigarette cartridges in public: source

Hong Kong authorities are proposing a citywide ban on the possession of e-cigarette cartridges that will start with public places, as part of phased efforts to stop vaping and reduce the smoking rate to 7.8 per cent, the Post has learned. The details of the government’s legislative proposals surfaced following a heated public debate on 10 measures, including banning alternative smoking products (ASPs) and flavoured cigarettes, which were recommended by the Health Bureau last June. Some business leaders have cautioned that the controls may discourage visitors and businesspeople from coming to the city. A source told the Post on Friday that the ban was expected to be carried out in two phases, with the proposals to be submitted to the Legislative Council in the first quarter of this year. Smoking and possession of materials such as cartridges used in ASPs, including e-cigarettes and other heated tobacco products, will be prohibited in public places under the first stage of the proposed ban. The second stage will extend the possession ban citywide. “Smoking of both traditional tobacco products and ASPs is already banned in all statutory no-smoking areas. The proposed ASP ban is to ban both possession and smoking in public places,” the source said. “For instance, after the first stage, one can still possess and smoke ASPs in their own home. Such ASPs should be residual stocks, as imports and sales have already been banned since April 30, 2022.” Under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, “public places” are defined as “any place to which for the time being the public is entitled or permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise” or “a common part of any premises notwithstanding that the public is not entitled or permitted to have access to that common part or those premises”. Currently, it is only illegal to consume e-cigarettes or traditional cigarettes in statutory no-smoking areas, with offenders facing a fixed penalty of HK$1,500 (US$193). The import, promotion, manufacture, sale or possession of ASPs for commercial purposes are also prohibited and can lead to a HK$50,000 fine and six months in prison. E-cigarettes cartridges have become the subject of mounting public scrutiny in recent months over their use to conceal a new drug dubbed “space oil”, with police stepping up enforcement efforts. Lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who represents the retail and wholesale sector, disagreed with the ban on consumption and warned that the measures could diminish Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the long run. “I believe the number of e-cigarettes users on the mainland is not small. Although they can’t bring them into Hong Kong, they might still visit if their friends here have them,” Shiu said. “We have to give people a choice, especially when we are an international city.” Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai said he did not view the new measures as drastic, noting the sale of e-cigarettes had been banned for almost three years. “Substances such as space oil could be used in some e-cigarettes, making them potential tools for substance abuse,” he said. “We need to send the public a clear message that e-cigarettes should not be owned and consumed.” Tong said he understood the public might need time to adjust to the new measures but it would be best if the ban could be implemented “as soon as possible”. “The council has always believed a smokeless, fresh and cleaner Hong Kong could be more attractive to tourists,” he said. Outlawing the possession of ASPs was one of the 10 short-term measures proposed by the government last June to further decrease the city’s smoking rate from 9.4 per cent in 2023 to 7.8 per cent by this year. Authorities earlier said they aimed to have the measures passed by Legco by the end of this year. Asked whether the coverage of the proposed cartridge ban would be larger than that of traditional cigarettes, the insider said statutory no-smoking areas would also be expanded under the legislative proposal. The ban’s coverage and the final timeline for implementation would be subject to lawmakers’ deliberations, the source added. The sales ban on flavoured tobacco products, which includes flavoured shisha, will also be carried out in two phases under the government’s proposal, with the first stage ruling out non-menthol cigarettes and shisha. The sale of menthol-flavoured products and shisha, as well as traditional flavoured shisha, will be banned in the second stage, according to the insider. Flavoured tobacco products had been banned in various ways in 27 countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, the source said. The government would include a timetable among the proposals and expected the first and second stages of the ban to be spread out over a few years to give the public and businesses time to adjust, the source added. The 10 measures recommended by the bureau earlier also targeted the provision of tobacco products to minors, smoking while queuing and the expansion of no-smoking areas to schools, care homes for the elderly and hospitals. A study by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health and the University of Hong Kong found that half of current smokers used flavoured cigarettes, with 71 per cent of female smokers opting for the products. Among those aged 15 to 29, the use of flavoured cigarettes reached 86 per cent. The study, conducted last year, polled 5,600 Cantonese-speaking respondents. Previous surveys also revealed 3 per cent of primary school pupils and 8 per cent of secondary school students had tried smoking. Those studies polled 14,440 primary school pupils and 28,395 secondary school students in 2022 and 2023. Most students tried flavoured smoking products for their first experience. Those who started with flavoured products were also more likely to become daily cigarette smokers. Additional reporting by Ambrose Li

Exclusive | Hong Kong plans to ban vaping, possessing e-cigarette cartridges in public: source

Move is first of two-phase citywide ban on alternative smoking and flavoured tobacco products, insider says