Top Takeaways:

• Azerbaijan is advancing laws to prohibit the import, manufacturing, selling, and usage of electronic cigarettes and their parts.
• The draft law would categorize nicotine-containing e-cigarettes as banned tobacco products under various statutes.
• Related amendments will remove e-cigarettes from excise tax lists and update advertising rules to match the new ban.

Azerbaijan is moving forward with legislative amendments that would prohibit the circulation of e-cigarettes, vaping products and their components, according to the state news agency.

The proposed changes were added to the agenda of a joint meeting held on Dec. 16 by the parliamentary committees on agrarian policy, economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship, and labor and social policy.

Under the draft legislation, Azerbaijan would ban the import, export, production, storage, wholesale and retail sale, and use of electronic cigarettes and related components. The bill also introduces measures to regulate legal and administrative issues arising from the proposed prohibition.

As part of the reform package, amendments to the Tax Code, the Law on Tobacco and Tobacco Products, the Law on Advertising, and the Law on Restricting the Use of Tobacco Products would clarify and expand definitions related to nicotine products. The definition of “tobacco products” would be amended to explicitly include nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes, while new legal definitions for “heated tobacco products” and “electronic cigarettes” would be introduced.

The draft law would classify nicotine-containing e-cigarettes as tobacco products whose circulation is banned, creating a unified legal foundation for enforcement across various statutes.

The proposed amendments also include adding a new article that officially bans the import, export, manufacture, storage, wholesale and retail sale, and use of electronic cigarettes and their components.

Lawmakers stated that clarifying and introducing new definitions aim to ensure more accurate legal classification and differentiation between tobacco products, heated tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes.

Proposed changes involve amending the Tax Code and the Law on Advertising. These include removing “single-use electronic cigarettes” and “e-liquids for electronic cigarettes” from the list of excisable goods, eliminating the associated excise tax rates, and updating advertising restrictions to match the new legal definitions.