By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Azerbaijan plans a full ban on e-cigarettes starting April 1, 2026, covering production, trade, and use.
- Nicotine e-cigarettes are classified as tobacco products, while heated tobacco products are explicitly excluded.
- The start date was pushed back from February to April 2026 as lawmakers refined legal definitions.
Azerbaijan is moving ahead with a sweeping prohibition on electronic cigarettes, with lawmakers advancing draft amendments that would ban the import, export, production, storage, wholesale and retail sale, and use of e-cigarettes and their components beginning April 1, 2026.
According to local media reports cited by News.Az, the amendments to the Law on Tobacco and Tobacco Products were discussed during their second reading in parliament on Thursday. The revised draft shifts the planned effective date from February 1, 2026, as set during the first reading, to April 1, 2026.
Under the proposed legislation, nicotine-containing e-cigarettes are explicitly classified as tobacco products. The bill defines an electronic cigarette as a device intended to deliver vapor—containing nicotine or not—into the human body through inhalation, whether used with cartridges, bottles, or other components. Devices may be reusable or refillable and may use single-use cartridges.
The definition specifically excludes food products, conventional tobacco products, medicines, and medical devices. Heated tobacco products are also excluded from the electronic cigarette category. Instead, they are separately defined as products made from tobacco or tobacco blends, combined with non-tobacco components, that deliver a nicotine-containing aerosol through heating without combustion and without producing smoke.
Lawmakers said the clarification and the introduction of new definitions are intended to ensure precise legal classification and differentiation among electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and other tobacco products, providing a clearer enforcement framework once the ban takes effect.
If adopted in its final reading, the amendments would establish one of the region’s most comprehensive prohibitions on e-cigarettes, while leaving heated tobacco products regulated under a separate legal category.
