Tobacco 'Generation Ban' to begin next Saturday

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced today that the regulations concerning the enforcement of the Tobacco 'Generation Ban’, which prohibits the sale of tobacco products to individuals born in 2007 or later, will be gazetted before the law takes effect next Saturday.

The amendment to the Tobacco Control Act, which was passed last May, will come into force next Saturday. Consequently, the sale of tobacco products will be banned for all individuals born in 2007 or any year thereafter.

An HPA official stated that the regulation related to the Generation Ban will be published before next Saturday. Under the new regulation, the official explained that regardless of a person's age, tobacco products can only be sold after verifying the buyer's age using an official photo ID.

The amendments made to the law late last year also raised the minimum age for selling tobacco products from 18 to 21 years. Furthermore, if there is any doubt about a person's age, tobacco products can only be sold after age verification.

In an effort to build a healthy generation, the importation of vapes and e-cigarettes into the Maldives has also been banned since November 15 of last year.

Following the ratification of the Generation Bill into law, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said that unhealthy habits in society can be eradicated through collective effort.

The President noted that due to many difficulties observed in enforcing previous amendments to the Tobacco Control Act, the new amendments include provisions to reduce these obstacles.

"In terms of enforcement, the procedural matters, the procedures for possessing, importing, storing, destroying, and seizing vapes and tobacco-related products and their subsequent handling and destruction, are now comprehensively laid out," the President stated.