Vietnam Lawmaker Proposes Tobacco Age of 21 as Parliament Weighs Wider Smoking Curbs

Three extra years at the centre of Vietnam's tobacco debate

Vietnam should raise the minimum age for buying and using tobacco from 18 to 21, National Assembly deputy Nguyen Hai Long proposed on October 21, citing Ministry of Health figures showing a sharp rise in smoking among young men as they enter adulthood. Smoking prevalence was 5.46% among males aged 15 to 19, compared with 32.6% among those aged 20 to 24, according to the 2021 STEPS survey cited during the debate.

Long, who represents Da Nang and serves as a full time deputy on the National Assembly's Committee for Delegate Affairs, argued that the law leaves young people exposed just as they move away from home, start university or earn their first wages. The older group's smoking rate was almost six times the younger group's, a difference of 27.14 percentage points.

The proposal came during discussions on amendments to the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms. The wider package would restrict online sales, remove tobacco displays from shops, enlarge health warnings and extend smoking bans. Other deputies sought protection for workers who challenge smokers and a permanent sales restriction covering people born from January 1, 2010.

The age increase remains a lawmaker's recommendation, rather than an approved change. The draft discussed by deputies retained the threshold of 18. Further debate was scheduled for November 9, with passage to be considered before the parliamentary session ended.

For retailers, the debate concerns who they may serve and how they must verify age. For cafes, hospitals and schools, it concerns whether staff can enforce smoking restrictions without facing threats or violence.

Why Long wants protection beyond age 18

Long described the transition out of secondary school as a period when several safeguards weaken at once. Before 18, many teenagers live with parents, have little money of their own and remain under school supervision. University, employment and independent accommodation bring greater freedom, new friends and easier access to cigarettes.

About half of male daily smokers began smoking at 19 or older, according to the figures he cited. Long also referred to a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 Phenikaa University students in which having friends who smoked was associated with 7.6 times the risk of smoking.

The proposed threshold would add three years during which shops could not legally sell tobacco to those young adults. Long argued that preventing someone from starting during that period offers a better chance of avoiding a lasting habit.

Nguyen Hai Long, the Da Nang deputy advocating the change, explained his reasoning during the parliamentary discussion:

"Young people who have not started smoking by the age of 21 will, for the most part, never smoke in their lifetime," he said.

Long cited figures indicating that about 95% of smokers in the United States began before 21, while nearly 95% in Singapore tried their first cigarette before that age. He said at least 15 countries had adopted a minimum tobacco age of 21, including Singapore, where the tobacco threshold is higher than the minimum age of 18 for alcohol.

What the research cited in parliament suggests

A 2015 model from the United States Institute of Medicine gave Long another argument for choosing 21 rather than a smaller increase. It estimated reductions in smoking prevalence of 3% with a minimum age of 19, 12% at 21 and 16% at 25. The projected reduction at 21 was four times the estimate at 19.

Those figures describe modelled effects under different age policies. Long also cited a 12.4% decline in cigarette sales after adoption in areas with a high proportion of people younger than 21. Sales measure purchases, while prevalence measures how many people smoke, so the two figures describe different changes.

Nicotine dependence helps explain why lawmakers are concentrating on preventing the first years of smoking. Dependence means a person develops a strong need to keep using a substance and can find stopping difficult. United States research cited in the discussion put lifetime nicotine dependence among people who had smoked at 67.5%, compared with 22.7% for alcohol dependence among people who had consumed alcohol.

A Canadian study cited alongside that research found that many people needed 30 or more attempts to quit successfully. Long's argument connects those difficulties with the age figures: delaying access could prevent some young people from developing a habit they would later struggle to stop.

Shops would check age and remove displays

Health Minister Dao Hong Lan presented government proposals to ban tobacco sales through e-commerce platforms and other electronic channels. The government said online transactions make checking a buyer's age difficult, increasing the risk of sales to people under 18.

Long supported requiring sellers to check identification cards or electronic identity credentials through VNeID, Vietnam's digital identity system. The National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Social Affairs also supported allowing sellers to refuse customers who could not prove they were old enough. Deputy Pham Trong Nhan wanted refusal to become a duty when a sale failed to meet legal conditions.

The committee said age checks should collect only the personal information needed and comply with data protection law. For a customer, that would mean proving eligibility without giving a shop unnecessary personal details.

Government proposals would also prohibit tobacco displays at wholesale and retail outlets, including packaging, images and identifying brand features. Existing rules prohibit advertising but allow sellers to display up to one pack or one carton of each brand. The government argued that visible products, lighting and shop fixtures can promote tobacco indirectly.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man called for clear boundaries between prohibited displays, direct marketing, price information and lawful trade names. He also sought practical rules for duty free shops, airports and border areas. Closed cabinets could conceal products, but businesses would need precise instructions about what remained permitted.

Larger warnings and clearer rules for newer products

The Committee on Culture and Social Affairs recommended health warnings covering at least 85% of both main faces of cigarette packs and cartons, with a possible timetable to reach 100%. The current minimum is 50%. Raising it to 85% would add 35 percentage points to the space reserved for warnings on each main face.

Deputies Le Van Kham and Nguyen Thi Viet Nga supported larger warnings. Kham wanted a timetable written into the law, while Nga called for a reasonable transition period. Proposals also included rotating warning designs and adding information about a service supporting people who want to quit.

The committee wanted warnings printed directly on packaging, addressing cases in which adhesive labels were used or stamps covered much of the message. Larger warnings would therefore be accompanied by rules intended to keep them visible.

The amendments would also put more detailed controls behind National Assembly Resolution 173/2024, which banned e-cigarettes and heated tobacco from 2025. Proposed provisions cover production, sale, possession, transport and trade across borders, as well as devices, loose components and liquids. Authorities have encountered difficulties penalising shipments of separate parts and liquids.

The government's submission cited Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, which recorded 120 emergencies linked to these products during the 22 months before the ban, compared with about one or two monthly afterward. The earlier total averages roughly 5.5 cases a month.

Deputy Pham Trong Nhan urged comprehensive restrictions covering e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches, shisha and new nicotine products. Deputies To Huy Vu and Dao Chi Nghia sought precise definitions and clear exceptions for legitimate research, testing and examination, particularly where components have other lawful uses.

A cafe assault exposes the enforcement problem

Nguyen Van Ngoc, a deputy representing Lam Dong, pointed to a September 17, 2025 assault at a cafe in Hanoi's Times City urban area. A cashier reminded a group three times that smoking was prohibited, then was punched and knocked down by a customer's companion, according to Ngoc.

Ngoc said a court upheld a prison sentence of 24 months for the person who directed the disturbance. He used the case to argue that workers enforcing smoking bans need explicit legal protection and a reliable way to obtain help.

Managers of premises where smoking is prohibited must organise checks and encourage compliance, yet cafe owners, restaurant managers, hospital security staff and school principals generally cannot impose administrative fines. Ngoc said managers can themselves face fines of VND3 million to VND5 million for failing to carry out their responsibilities.

His proposed solution would prohibit threats, obstruction, retaliation, insults and physical attacks against people who remind smokers of the rules or report violations. Managers would be authorised to request that smoking stop, record images, document incidents and refer cases to commune police or another competent authority. Police would be required to receive and promptly handle those requests.

Ngoc also sought higher penalties for smoking in prohibited places. He cited Decree 90/2026/ND-CP as setting fines of VND200,000 to VND500,000 for conventional cigarettes, compared with VND3 million to VND5 million for using e-cigarettes or heated tobacco. He proposed stricter treatment for violations at schools, health facilities and places for children, as well as repeated offences or resistance to people enforcing the rules.

Smoking restrictions could extend to more places

Tran Thanh Man backed a phased move toward completely smoke free indoor environments at establishments currently allowed to maintain designated smoking areas. The categories discussed included hotels, bars, karaoke venues, nightclubs and restaurants. Ships and trains would also be added to public transport covered by comprehensive bans.

Man called for a clear implementation timetable, reasonable transition periods and support allowing businesses to adjust. He also urged consistent enforcement and examination of international practices, including Singapore's penalties for improperly discarded cigarette butts.

Ngoc raised another practical problem: people sometimes move just outside school and hospital gates to smoke after being barred from the grounds. He proposed keeping bans within those premises while extending restricted zones around entrances under government rules.

Local authorities would coordinate with schools, hospitals, stations, markets and parks to arrange outdoor smoking points beyond the grounds and entrance zones. Those points would have signs and containers for cigarette waste. Ngoc also proposed considering repeated smoking violations when assessing the annual performance of managers and public employees.

A separate proposal would follow a generation through life

Pham Trong Nhan, representing Ho Chi Minh City, proposed studying a ban on selling or supplying tobacco to people born on or after January 1, 2010. Unlike Long's age threshold, which people would eventually reach, a birth date restriction would continue to cover the same group as its members grew older.

Nhan said the Ministry of Health had assessed the option as potentially preventing 6.55 million men from becoming addicted, and that 20 of 23 government members had supported it. He asked why it was absent from the draft and requested publication of the impact assessment before the plenary debate.

His proposal would initially focus on sellers, suppliers and people buying tobacco for others, rather than penalising users, alongside support for quitting. If immediate introduction was impractical, he wanted implementation no later than 2030.

Nhan also cited estimated tobacco related losses of VND108.7 trillion in 2022 and tobacco tax receipts of VND19.3 trillion in 2021. The figures cover different years, but together show the scale of the public health and economic costs lawmakers are weighing alongside revenue.

The timetable and the people affected

The government's submission cited the 2021 STEPS survey as recording smoking among 20.8% of adults, including 41.1% of men and 0.6% of women, representing about 15.8 million people. Tobacco was estimated to cause more than 100,000 deaths annually in Vietnam, including deaths associated with exposure to other people's smoke.

The proposals connect several parts of that problem: access for young adults, visibility in shops, dependence among existing smokers and exposure in shared spaces. Their practical effect would depend on the final wording and on clear responsibilities for sellers, managers and police.

The dates discussed set out both the legislative process and proposed implementation stages:

• 2024: The National Assembly adopted Resolution 173/2024, providing for the ban on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco from 2025.
• October 21: Deputies discussed the tobacco law amendments, including Long's proposal to raise the minimum age to 21.
• November 9: Further debate was scheduled, with passage to be considered by the end of the session.
• March 1, 2027: Revised provisions on smoking cessation would begin under the proposed timetable.
• July 1, 2027: The amended law would take effect if approved on the proposed schedule.
• January 1, 2028: Requirements to publish standards for specified products, including cigars and cut tobacco, would apply.
• 2030: Nhan proposed this as the latest starting point for a possible restriction based on birth date.

For young adults, the central decision is whether legal access should continue at 18 or move to 21. For people already smoking, lawmakers also called for support to quit. For workers asked to enforce bans, the proposed protections would make assistance from authorities part of the process rather than leaving them to handle confrontation alone.

Key Points

• Nguyen Hai Long proposed raising Vietnam's minimum tobacco purchasing and use age from 18 to 21.
• Ministry of Health figures cited in parliament put male smoking prevalence at 5.46% for ages 15 to 19 and 32.6% for ages 20 to 24.
• The wider amendments would restrict online sales and shop displays, strengthen age checks and enlarge packaging warnings.
• Deputies sought protection for people enforcing smoking bans and clearer procedures for police assistance.
• A separate proposal would restrict tobacco supply to people born from January 1, 2010.
• The changes remained under parliamentary consideration, with further debate scheduled for November 9.