Legislative Council poised to pass long-delayed e-cigarette ban after Hong Kong’s biggest political party decides to back bill

The controversial bill has its detractors, including those who argue e-cigarettes and similar products are less harmful than conventional smoking

However, it is now expected to clear the legislature after the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong decided to support the blanket ban

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A bill banning e-cigarettes and other new smoking products is believed to have secured enough votes for passage in the Legislative Council. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 9:17pm, 2 Sep 2021Updated: 12:00am, 3 Sep 2021

Hong Kong is set to pass a long-delayed law next month to ban electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products, with the city’s largest political party expected to help the government secure enough votes in the legislature for the controversial policy.

The bill outlawing the import, production, distribution, sale and promotion of new smoking products will come into force in April next year at the earliest if it is passed by the Legislative Council before its current session ends in October. But the pro-business Liberal Party has vowed to push for changes to the legislation, arguing it makes no sense for the government to treat products that can help smokers quit more harshly than regular cigarettes.

Wong Ting-kwong, chairman of the bills committee on the Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2019, confirmed to the Post on Thursday he had received notice from the government it would resume proceedings on the legislation, and had scheduled a meeting for Friday next week.

Legco has been discussing the regulation of e-cigarettes as far back as 2014, when lawmakers expressed concerns over the possible health risks and lax oversight of sales. Two years later the government said it would introduce legislation banning such products but a bill failed to materialise.

City leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor signalled she intended to get tough on the industry in her policy address in 2018, warning that e-cigarettes, which had grown into an industry worth as much as HK$30 million (US$3.86 million), were being promoted as less harmful than regular tobacco and targeted young people.

The Food and Health Bureau suggested a total ban the following year and the current bill was introduced that February but legislative work stalled.

The amendments have come under fire from some pro-business lawmakers and other interest groups.