MVR 192,500 in vape related fines last month

Maldives Police Service states they have imposed MVR 192,500 vape-related fines in April alone.

Maldives implemented a blanket ban on the import, sale, free distribution, and use of vaping devices and e-cigarettes in mid-December last year as part of a campaign against smoking launched by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration.

According to statistics publicized by the Police on Monday, they fined a total of 39 people by MVR 192,500 over vape-related offenses between April 1^st and April 30^th.

The number was lower in March where the authority fined 27 people by MVR 123,000.

The Tobacco Control Act already prescribes hefty fines for vaping, with an MVR 10,000 fine for free distribution of a vaping device, MVR 5,000 for use of a vaping device, and MVR 20,000 for the sale of vaping devices, with an additional fine of MVR 10,000 fine for each vaping device sold.

However, the confiscation of vaping devices is limited to instances where individuals are caught using such devices.

As such, the government has recently submitted an amendment to the Tobacco Control Act which seeks to empower the police to confiscate e-cigarettes and vaping devices found in possession of individuals, regardless of whether they are caught using it or not.

The bill states that such devices must be disposed of within 45 days of confiscation.

As part of its anti-smoking campaign, the government has also announced plans to impose a generation smoking ban for the post-2007 generation. The bill to amend the Tobacco Control Act in order to impose the ban has been submitted to the Parliament as well.

The government has also doubled import duty and taxes on cigarettes.

The move doubled the price of the most common cigarette brands from MVR 110 to MVR 240 per pack.

Tobacco importers and distributors raised the prices of cigarettes following this change, with the price of common cigarette brands rising between MVR 240 to MVR 290 per pack, and MVR 2,240 per carton.