By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Bangladesh has fully criminalized e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches, with jail terms and steep fines for violations.
- The ordinance sharply expands the legal definition of tobacco, giving the government authority to capture any future nicotine products.
- The move reinforces a zero-tolerance approach, pairing product bans with tougher advertising, packaging and public-use restrictions.
Bangladesh has shifted from regulation to outright prohibition, bringing e-cigarettes and all other emerging nicotine products under a sweeping ban that now includes jail time, fines and broad enforcement powers.
The Smoking and Tobacco Products Use Control (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, has formally come into force following presidential approval, according to reports from the Chief Adviser’s press wing. The ordinance amends Bangladesh’s 2005 tobacco control law and immediately criminalizes the production, import, export, storage, sale, and use of e-cigarettes, vapes, and a wide range of next-generation nicotine products.
Under the new framework, violations are punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment and fines of up to Tk500,000 (US$4,100). Authorities are also empowered to seize products, cancel business licenses, and prosecute cases under the Code of Criminal Procedure, significantly expanding enforcement tools available to regulators and police.
The ordinance was proposed by the Health Services Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and approved last week by the Advisory Council, chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus. Officials said the changes are intended to strengthen Bangladesh’s tobacco control regime and address what the government describes as growing risks associated with nicotine use.
One of the most consequential changes is the expansion of the legal definition of “tobacco products.” The revised law explicitly includes e-cigarettes, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. It also authorizes the government to classify any similar product as a tobacco product through future gazette notifications, granting regulators broad discretion to capture new formats as they emerge.
The ordinance provides standalone definitions for “nicotine” and “nicotine products,” closing a gap that previously allowed certain non-combustible products to fall outside tobacco legislation. Public place definitions have also been broadened, tightening restrictions on where tobacco and nicotine products may be used.
In parallel, Bangladesh has reinforced its longstanding public-use restrictions. Tobacco use is now banned in all public places and on public transportation, with fines increased more than sixfold—from Tk300 to Tk2,000 (US$16.40) per offense. Sales of tobacco products are prohibited within 100 meters of schools, hospitals, clinics, playgrounds, and children’s parks.
The ordinance also imposes a blanket ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship across print, broadcast, and digital media, including social media and OTT platforms. Point-of-sale displays are prohibited, as are the use of tobacco company names or logos in corporate social responsibility activities or event sponsorships.
Packaging and labeling rules have also been tightened. Tobacco products must now carry graphic health warnings covering 75 percent of the package surface, and products sold without standardized packaging are prohibited. Mixing tobacco with any harmful or addictive substances is now a punishable offense.
Beyond modern nicotine formats, the ordinance eliminates entire segments of Bangladesh’s traditional tobacco market. The production, marketing, and use of bidis made from kumbi and tendu leaves have been banned outright, consolidating tobacco regulation under a single legal framework and repealing separate bidi-specific laws.
Taken together, the ordinance represents one of the most comprehensive tobacco and nicotine prohibitions enacted in South Asia. By incorporating all next-generation products into tobacco law—and backing the move with criminal penalties—Bangladesh has signaled that it does not intend to create a regulated pathway for vaping, heated tobacco, or oral nicotine products.
For manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, the shift is immediate and absolute. For consumers, it effectively ends legal access to non-combustible nicotine alternatives, placing Bangladesh among a small but growing group of countries that have opted for prohibition rather than regulation in addressing emerging nicotine products.
In October of last year, Bangladesh approved Philip Morris Bangladesh Limited to establish a nicotine pouch manufacturing plant at the Meghna Industrial Economic Zone in Narayanganj, marking one of the country’s first large-scale pouch projects.
