According to Vietnamese media reports, in order to effectively regulate tobacco products, Vietnamese government parties are analyzing the Law on the Prevention and Control of the Harmful Effects of Tobacco to assess its relevance to each product, especially e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
Section 2.1 of the Act states: “Tobacco is a product made from all or part of tobacco components, processed in cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco or other forms.” Article 2.3 adds: “Tobacco raw material means bulk tobacco leaves, flakes that have been pre-treated and separated from stems, tobacco fibre, stems and other substitute materials used in the production of cigarettes.”
Therefore, the law states that only the composition of a product needs to be considered to determine whether it is “smoke”, not the production process or the way different types of products are used, whether cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco or other forms, such as heated tobacco, are smoke.
Pham Khanh Phong Lan, a parliamentary representative who participated in the passage of the Prevention and Control of Harmful Effects of Tobacco Act, commented that the law clearly defines tobacco and its related products, and heated tobacco and e-cigarettes fall under the scope of the Prevention and Control of Harmful Effects of Tobacco Act, similar to cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco. In essence, if it contains nicotine, it is a tobacco product. She believes that existing laws are qualified to regulate emerging tobacco products (without the need for new laws).