Hong Kong has passed a sweeping tobacco control bill, which includes measures to phase out all types of flavoured cigarettes and ban smoking in designated public areas, in a bid to further reduce the number of smokers in the city.
The Legislative Council passed the Tobacco Control Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2025 on Thursday, with a majority vote of 74 to one, with seven abstentions. Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the bill did not “push too far” with a blanket ban on all flavoured smoking products, including menthol-flavoured cigarettes.
“The fact is that Hong Kong is lagging” on smoking controls, Lo told lawmakers in Cantonese ahead of the vote, adding that the policy would result in better health among residents. “The government wants a win for all of us,” he said.
The bill seeks to ban the sale of non-menthol-flavoured cigarettes in the second quarter of 2027. The ban will be extended to menthol-flavoured cigarettes at a later stage.
Starting from next year, smoking while queuing in public will be banned, and designated no-smoking areas, such as those outside hospitals, will be expanded. Offenders will face a fine of HK$3,000.
Possession and use of e-cigarette cartridges in public will be banned starting from April 30 next year, following the ban on the import, manufacture, and sale of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products in 2022.
Other measures include increasing penalties for offences relating to smuggling tobacco products and introducing a duty stamp regime for imported cigarettes.
While most lawmakers supported the bill on Thursday, some voiced concern over the blanket ban on flavoured smoking products.
Peter Shiu, chairperson of the pro-business Liberal Party, argued that the complete ban on flavoured cigarette products would only force smokers to turn to the illegal tobacco market and may even increase the smoking population.
Liberal Party vice chairperson Lee Chun-keung warned that the illegal tobacco market could become more rampant following the ban.
But Shiu’s and Lee’s amendment proposals, one to relax and the other to cancel the ban on flavoured cigarettes, were both rejected by lawmakers.
About 70 per cent of young first-time smokers have used flavoured cigarettes, and the pair’s amendment proposal would send an “extremely wrong message” to society, Lo said.
Doreen Kong, the only lawmaker who voted against the bill, said that while she agreed with tightening smoking controls, the blanket ban on flavoured cigarettes was not a common policy for a “free and commercial city.”
Hong Kong’s smoking rate stood at 9.1 per cent in 2023, equivalent to about 580,000 daily smokers in the city, according to official figures. The government has planned to reduce the smoking rate to 7.8 per cent this year.
