THE Ministry of Health has clarified that e-cigarettes will be treated like any other tobacco product under the Amended Tobacco Control Decree.
This means that laws governing the sale, consumption and advertising of these products will be similar to normal cigarettes.
Acting manager for the Tobacco Control and Enforcement Unit with the Ministry of Health Nafiz Ali clarified this yesterday in an interview.
“First of all, because it was a new product, we had to amend the decree to include e-cigarettes there. So now we have the Amended Tobacco Control Decree 2014,” Mr Ali said.
“So after doing that, we look at e-cigarette as any other tobacco product which cannot be used in non-smoking relevant public places.
“It cannot be smoked in any public place where normal cigarettes cannot be smoked and no advertisement of the product is allowed.”
Mr Ali earlier clarified that individuals had been prosecuted for violating the decree with two already in prison.
Two people are in prison and 165 others have been booked for offences under the Tobacco Control Decree.
The offences range from sale of single cigarettes, sale of cigarettes to minors and smoking in public places.
