Top Takeaways:
- LegCo approved the 2025 amendment bill with 74–1 vote, banning possession of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.
- The law also extends non-smoking areas, prohibits underage sales, and bans flavored cigarettes except menthol.
- Hong Kong aims to push its smoking rate from 9.1% toward below 5%.
Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passed the Tobacco Control Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2025 with overwhelming support—74 votes in favor, one against, and seven abstentions.
The bill imposes strict new restrictions: banning possession of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, expanding non-smoking zones, preventing sales to minors, and banning flavored cigarettes except menthol. The goal is to reduce the city’s smoking rate from 9.1% to below 5% in the long term.
The legislation will be implemented gradually over several years. Possession bans for “alternative smoking product (ASP)” — such as e-liquids, heat sticks, and herbal cigarette substances — in public places will start on April 30, 2026, according to the bills committee report.
For “flavored conventional smoking products (CSPs),” non-menthol flavored items will be banned first, with menthol-flavored cigarettes to follow once supporting systems, such as the duty stamp regime, are fully implemented, which is expected around the second quarter of 2027.
The bill also incorporates new plain packaging requirements for traditional smoking products, a certification system for CSPs, increased penalties for illegal tobacco activities, and stricter regulations on smoking areas, such as near lines in public transportation or outside school grounds.
Lawmakers expressed concerns about trade and retailer readiness, particularly for those selling hand-rolling or pipe tobacco, many of which are flavored products, and sought clarity on how the law will define “public place” and small-quantity possession.
Industry stakeholders and some pro-business lawmakers had sought amendments, including pushing for “positive vetting” of key regulatory notices and seeking a less abrupt ban on flavored products. But despite these efforts, the bill passed largely as proposed.
Hong Kong previously banned the import, manufacturing, and sale of alternative smoking products under laws effective since 2022 — a foundation on which this new bill is built.
