KUALA LUMPUR – The contentious Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023 has excluded the Generational Endgame (GEG) provisions but kept controls on vape and e-cigarettes, as well as closing loopholes in the existing legislation on smoking products.
Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa (Sekijang-PH) tabled the revised bill for first reading today in the Dewan Rakyat.
The GEG provision, which was previously proposed during Khairy Jamaluddin’s tenure as health minister, would have seen a lifetime ban on tobacco and vape products for anyone born on or after January 1, 2007.
However, it was reported that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) held the view that the GEG provision in the proposed legislation to control smoking and tobacco products was unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, in a tweet today, Zaliha said the latest bill marks a historic moment for the country as it is the first legislation to specifically regulate smoking products.
“InsyaAllah, the bill will go into its second reading tomorrow, November 29, 2023. Hopefully this bill can be finalised and passed unanimously by the end of this Parliament session.”
Earlier, she told the lower House she wanted to retract the bill tabled previously, citing Standing Order 62 pertaining to the withdrawal and postponement of bills.
The AGC, in a statement on November 18, had responded to former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s claims that the government’s legal adviser was being inconsistent in opposing the provision now, when it did not do so before when the bill was first introduced.
On November 11, Khairy in an Instagram story had posted that the AGC had approved the Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022, while he was health minister, and did not state that it was unconstitutional.
Article 8 of the federal constitution states that all persons are equal before the law.
Health news portal CodeBlue earlier this month reported, citing sources, that the 2023 version of the bill was seeing a delay yet again as Attorney-General Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh is of the view that the lifetime ban on tobacco and vape products for anyone born on or after January 1, 2007, is unconstitutional.
The bill with GEG provisions was first tabled in 2022 under the administration of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, but was pulled back for revision.
A revised version was tabled for first reading in June of this year under the present government, but was again sent for further review by the parliamentary special select committee.
With the bill delayed, nicotine, which has been removed from the Poisons Act 1952 as a scheduled poison, remains unregulated.
The government removed it from the list of scheduled poisons in order to begin collecting excise duty on nicotine-containing vape liquids at 40 sen/ml, effective April 1 of this year. – November 28, 2023