Ban on Electronic Cigarettes Takes Effect 菸害防制法新制今上路 全面禁電子煙

The revised Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act was promulgated on March 22. Electronic cigarettes are now completely banned, and the maximum fine for using them is NT$10,000. Civic groups called on the government to strictly investigate and crack down on usage. However, regional health officials said this is easier said than done because the usage time is short and it's hard to identify people. In addition, they have a limited number of inspectors. People who want to report others will need to provide evidence, including time, location, and images showing illegal behavior. However, it may be dangerous for people to go around taking photos and videos of smokers using e-cigarettes. 

Hsueh Jui-yuan, Health and Welfare Minister: “We already dispatched personnel to local areas, and we will continue to increase the manpower this year and next. As for the actual difficulties that could arise, we'll resolve them one by one. We had difficulties in the past with inspecting other types of illegal behavior, such as underage buying, but we still continued doing them and difficulties can't be the reason for not doing something. You just have to find a way to overcome them.”

Under the amendments, the maximum fine for selling or advertising heated tobacco products that have not undergone health risk assessments is NT$50 million. Cracking down on these products will be difficult, especially cracking down on "implements" that are not managed as tobacco products. It will also be hard to prevent these products from being sold online, as sellers use fake identities. The maximum fine for online advertisements is NT$1 million, and online platforms can receive successive fines of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million.

衛福部長薛瑞元表示：「我們已經有增補人力給地方了，今（2023）年、明年還會陸續增加人力。至於說實際上可能碰到的困難，那就一一予以排除。因為其實以前在稽查做未成年購菸等等，這些還是在做啊，也是有困難啊，困難不是不做的理由啦，是要需想辦法去克服。」

另外，加熱菸、載具，若未經過健康風險評估審查，私自販售、廣告等，最重處5000萬元以下罰緩。不過實際取締更難，尤其載具不按照菸品管理，加上網路購物難控管，賣家使用假帳號販售等，查緝困難。按新制規定，網路刊登販賣訊息，最重可處100萬；網路平台也會連帶受罰，可處20萬到100萬。