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Elizabeth Cheung

Hong Kong lawmakers have passed a controversial tobacco control bill that aims to further lower the city’s smoking rate, with the health minister saying the proposed measures have already considered a variety of opinions.
The Tobacco Control Legislation (Amendment) Bill was passed on Thursday after the second and third readings, following a last-ditch effort by two lawmakers to delay and amend the government-proposed measures earlier this week.
The bill was supported by 74 lawmakers, one opposed it and seven abstained.
“The bill submitted by us to the Legislative Council has already widely included opinions of Legco and different sectors of society,” Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said as he addressed lawmakers.
“It is a smoking control chorus, and a harmony of male and female voices as well as high and low pitches that work together as a song promoting a smokeless Hong Kong.
“The real charisma of an international metropolis is the sense of happiness that fresh air brings to the public.”
The bill covers eight of the 10 tobacco control measures raised by the government in June last year. The approved measures include a ban on the possession or use of alternative smoking products in public by April 30 of next year.
It will also ban the sale of conventional smoking products with flavours other than menthol from the second quarter of 2027.
Authorities also plan to ban the remaining flavoured products in the next stage of the policy, but a timetable has yet to be set.
But some lawmakers argued that banning alternative and flavoured tobacco products could harm the economy by discouraging tourism.
Lawmakers Michael Lee Chun-keung and Peter Shiu Ka-fai, both from the pro-business Liberal Party, proposed amendments that included a call for the government to lift a proposed ban on selling flavoured conventional smoking products.

They also suggested that some of the planned tobacco control measures should go through “positive vetting”, a process in which lawmakers review changes before their implementation rather than afterwards.
The pair’s proposed amendments were rejected by most lawmakers.
Before Thursday’s vote, Shiu argued that the city’s planned anti-smoking measures would only align with a minority of countries.
“Which places in the world are banning flavoured smoking products, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes? There are five countries – Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Turkey and Brazil,” he said.
“If we pass the bill today, our smoking measures will be in line with these five countries, and we will become the ‘six little dragons’.”
Lee said he supported most of the proposed smoking measures but questioned whether banning flavoured products would help to reduce the smoking rate.
“The eight tobacco control measures were independent from each other … but the government bundled them into a meal,” he said.
“It’s like performing the eight brocade exercise. Is the entire fitness method useless if I perform one movement less? No,” he said, referring to a set of routines from qigong, the Chinese mind-body practice.
While most of the 31 lawmakers who spoke in the meeting supported the bill, many of them urged the government to explain the new rules to visitors to prevent them from getting into trouble.
“We need to let visitors know that Hong Kong is controlling [the use of] tobacco instead of a full ban,” tourism sector lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said.
He said the government could offer clear instructions on the city’s smoking measures in multiple languages at tourism hotspots and border control points.
Several lawmakers urged the government to clearly indicate the boundaries of the bill’s expanded no smoking areas.
The bill stipulates that smoking is prohibited within three metres of the entrances of specified premises, such as childcare centres, schools and hospitals.
The lawmakers also called on the government to look into measures that ban the practice of “smoking while walking”, commonly known in Cantonese as fo che tau or “locomotives”, as it was not included in the latest bill.


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Hong Kong lawmakers pass controversial tobacco control bill to cut smoking rate

Hong Kong aims to further lower the smoking rate. Photo: Nora Tam

The bill will ban the sale of conventional smoking products with flavours other than menthol from the second quarter of 2027. Photo: Jelly Tse

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The Health Department will begin an operation against illegal smoking on Monday. Photo: Jelly Tse

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The Department of Health has said that the number of fixed penalty notices issued for smoking offences had increased to 13,488 in 2024 from 10,261 in 2023, an increase of about 31 per cent. Photo: Eugene Lee

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Bill includes ban on sale of smoking products with flavours other than menthol starting from 2027


Bill includes ban on sale of smoking products with flavours other than menthol starting from 2027.


Legislative Council of Hong Kong

Smoking and vaping

Lo Chung-mau

Hong Kong lawmakers pass controversial tobacco control bill to cut smoking rate

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Bill includes ban on sale of smoking products with flavours other than menthol starting from 2027

Bill includes ban on sale of smoking products with flavours other than menthol starting from 2027