Tobacco and New-Generation Tobacco Products: The Legal Status of E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco After the 2025 Ban

From 1 January 2025, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in Vietnam moved from not being permitted to circulate to being comprehensively banned under National Assembly Resolution 173/2024/QH15. In 2026 the legal framework gained two decisive further layers: Decree 90/2026/ND-CP created specific fines for use and for harbouring use, effective 15 May 2026, and the Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 placed both products on the list of business lines banned from investment. Enterprises still holding stock, distribution contracts or operating service venues where guests use these products need to read all three layers together.

The ban layer under Resolution 173/2024/QH15: six prohibited acts

Resolution 173/2024/QH15, adopted by the National Assembly on 30 November 2024, bans the production, trading, import, harbouring, transport and use of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and addictive gases and substances harmful to human health from 2025. Because this is a National Assembly resolution, the ban’s effect does not depend on whether an enterprise holds a licence to trade conventional tobacco: a tobacco trading licence under the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms 09/2012/QH13 and Decree 105/2020/ND-CP never covered these new-generation products. Every argument that goods lawfully imported before 2025 may be sold off as inventory has no legal basis, because trading and harbouring after the ban takes effect remain prohibited acts.

The definition of the banned products must be read with health sector guidance: e-cigarettes include the electronic device and the liquid or material used in it, while heated tobacco includes the heating device and the dedicated tobacco sticks. The practical consequence is that an enterprise cannot circumvent the ban by splitting the transaction into selling the device separately and the liquid separately, because the whole product system and the components serving its use fall within the controlled scope. For retailers and e-commerce platforms, the minimum compliance actions are removing storefronts, blocking product keywords and preventing sellers from re-listing, with timestamps of removal retained to demonstrate good faith when market authorities inspect.

The penalty layer under Decree 90/2026/ND-CP: use and harbouring

Before 2026, the question of how to penalise an e-cigarette user had no complete answer because the banning resolution was not accompanied by its own sanctions. Decree 90/2026/ND-CP on administrative penalties in the health sector, effective from 15 May 2026, filled this gap: using an e-cigarette or heated tobacco product is fined from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000, with the additional measure of confiscation and destruction of the product. This fine applies to an individual offender; where an organisation commits the same act, the fine under the general principle is double the individual level, and an enterprise should check the decree’s general fine provisions when drafting its internal handling rules.

The second act sanctioned directly is harbouring use at a managed location: the owner of a hotel, bar, restaurant or entertainment venue who lets guests use e-cigarettes or heated tobacco on the premises without intervening can be fined from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000. This rule turns compliance from a sellers’ issue into an operational issue for every service business: prohibition signage at the point of business, a staff procedure for warnings and internal incident records when a guest insists on violating, and a clause in event venue contracts allocating responsibility to the venue hirer, form the evidence file showing the enterprise discharged its duty to prevent. Beyond these two acts, unlawful production, trading, import and transport can also be handled under the law on prohibited goods, with confiscation of exhibits and, where the elements are met, criminal liability for trading in prohibited goods.

The investment layer: Investment Law 143/2025 lists a banned business line

The Investment Law 143/2025/QH15, effective 1 March 2026 and replacing Investment Law 61/2020/QH14, placed e-cigarettes and heated tobacco on the list of business lines banned from investment and business. For investors the consequence is absolute: there is no approval or conditional licensing route for a project producing or distributing these products, the investment registration authority will refuse new projects, and existing projects must terminate the banned portion of their operations. Foreign investors bound by joint venture commitments signed before 2025 should review the change-of-law clauses in joint venture and distribution contracts to allocate the loss from terminating operations, instead of continuing to operate and carrying the risk of penalties and goods confiscation.

Producers of conventional tobacco are also indirectly affected: production lines, warehouses and distribution channels shared between conventional products and new-generation products must be fully separated, and new-generation stock must have a destruction or return plan following the managing authority’s guidance, with minutes and documents attached. Leaving banned goods mixed into a lawful goods warehouse is the scenario that escalates a routine administrative inspection into a prohibited-goods case, affecting the enterprise’s lawful operations as well.

What enterprises still need to do in 2026

Priority one is stock and contracts: inventory all goods, components and advertising materials relating to the two products, stop imports and distribution, liquidate contracts under change-of-law force majeure clauses where available, and keep destruction records for remaining stock. Priority two is reviewing sales points and online channels: remove products from marketplaces, websites and delivery apps, and train retail staff to refuse sales of replacement devices and liquids disguised under other names. Priority three is compliance at managed premises: post no-use signage, build a procedure for handling violating guests and recording incidents, because from 15 May 2026 the act of harbouring carries its own fine under Decree 90/2026/ND-CP. Enterprises completing these three workstreams early will be in the best position when market and health authorities step up inspections after the sanctions take effect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products banned or permitted in Vietnam?

They are comprehensively banned. Resolution 173/2024/QH15 bans production, trading, import, harbouring, transport and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 2025; Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 further lists both products as business lines banned from investment from 1 March 2026. No conditional licensing mechanism exists for these products, and a conventional tobacco trading licence does not cover new-generation products.

What is the current legal status of new-generation tobacco products?

The current status has three layers: the act-ban layer under Resolution 173/2024/QH15; the sanctions layer under Decree 90/2026/ND-CP effective 15 May 2026, under which use is fined VND 3–5 million with destruction of the product, harbouring use at a managed location is fined VND 5–10 million, and unlawful production and trading are handled under prohibited-goods law; and the investment layer under Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 banning investment in the business. In short, the products have moved from an unregulated grey zone to a ban with a full sanctions set.

What legal risks do enterprises trading in new-generation tobacco products face?

The largest risks are penalties and goods confiscation if trading, import or harbouring continues; a fine of VND 5–10 million for letting guests use the products at premises under one’s management; and contract risk where distribution and joint venture agreements signed before 2025 must terminate because of the change of law. An enterprise should inventory and destroy stock with documentation, remove products from every sales channel, review change-of-law clauses in contracts and set up a procedure to prevent use at its points of business.