Indonesia is considering stricter regulation of the marketing of e-cigarettes

The Indonesian government plans to tighten relatively lax smoking regulations, to curb the growing number of children smoking.

As part of a planned new regulation, the Indonesian Ministry of Health wants to ban the advertising and packaging of E-cigarettes check, since their legalization in the year 2018 are unregulated. The Ministry of Health also wants to reduce the size of warning labels on tobacco packaging 40 % on 90 % increase, Advertising, Ban sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products and ban the sale of individual cigarettes.

Am 11. August Imran Agus Nurali explained, Director of Health Promotion and Community Empowerment at the Ministry of Health, in a webinar, that the number of underage smokers is increasing every year, especially since the legalization of E-cigarettes. He stressed the need for increased measures to reduce tobacco consumption, to protect future generations from the consequences of smoking.

He added, that a ban on advertising, Sponsorship and promotion of tobacco products, including E-cigarettes, is also crucial, as according to the Global Youth Tobacco Study 2019 approximately 65 % of Indonesian children tobacco advertising on television, displayed at points of sale and on billboards.

Currently Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia, which still allows tobacco advertising on television and in the print media. The government plans to further increase excise taxes on tobacco and revise existing tobacco regulations next year.

At the beginning of this year, the country's Ministry of Finance revised excise taxes on tobacco 12 percent increased, resulting in an average price increase of 35 percent in tobacco products.