Hong Kong Plans to Allow E-cigarettes to be Transported by Sea and Air

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government stated on March 22 that the Import and Export (Amendment) Bill 2023 will be gazetted on March 24 to amend the Import and Export Ordinance (Cap. 60) and the corresponding amendments to the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance (Chapter 371) to improve the regulatory system for vaping products transshipped from the Mainland via Hong Kong to other overseas markets.

The Bill proposes to exempt electronic cigarettes transported through Hong Kong via sea-air and land-air intermodal under a new part of the Import and Export Ordinance. Currently, the smoking regulations already provide exemptions for alternative smoking products that are transit articles or air transhipment cargo. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government stated that it will establish a new regulatory system that will be managed, supervised and enforced by the Hong Kong Customs to strengthen the supervision of intermodal transportation of e-cigarettes, thereby reducing the risk of alternative smoking products entering the local market during intermodal transportation in Hong Kong . The bill will be introduced to the Legislative Council for consideration on March 29.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Transport and Logistics Bureau said that in view of the harmfulness of nicotine products, the government’s position on prohibiting them from entering the local market remains unchanged, but we note that the prohibition of intermodal transportation of personal vaporizers from April 30, 2022 has given Hong Kong The air cargo transshipment business has caused huge losses. Therefore, on the premise of preventing alternative smoking products from entering the local market, the intermodal transportation of alternative smoking products should be exempted through the new regulatory framework.