Maldives approves landmark tobacco ban for post-2007 generation

After deliberations on a proposal by the health ministry, the cabinet instructed enforcement agencies to prepare legal changes for “prohibiting the sale, purchase, and use of tobacco products” for the post-2007 generation with effect from November 1, 2025.

“The cabinet decision specified the allocation of a six-month period for enforcement authorities to revise existing regulations following the amendment and ratification of the law,” the President’s Office said. The finance ministry and health ministry were tasked with ensuring “improved access to tobacco cessation services across the country.”

The move comes after President Muizzu polled the public for the most appropriate starting point for the generational ban, offering options of either 2000, 2004 or 2007.

When the poll closed last Tuesday, the results showed that a majority of voters on X and 72 percent of voters on Facebook favoured January 2000. On Instagram, 43 percent chose January 2007 with support for 2000 at 45 percent.

In the second episode of his new podcast last week, the president defended his administration’s tobacco control policies, despite the emergence of a black market after the government banned vaping and hiked tobacco tariffs in November, driving up the average price of a pack of cigarettes from MVR 110 (US$ 7) to MVR 250.

Incremental tax increases would not solve the problem and would only benefit cigarette importers, Muizzu said, urging sellers to transition to alternate businesses.

In late March, a suspected smuggling network was exposed when customs officers found cigarette cartons hidden in a trash bag that a police officer carried out through the departure terminal at the Velana International Airport. 

Senior police officers are under investigation on suspicion of involvement with the network, it emerged last week.

In late January, police raided a private office in Malé and seized 104 boxes of locally manufactured cigarettes. Two weeks later, Customs canceled the registration of two bonded warehouses over 955 cases of cigarettes that went missing, seeking to recover MVR 67 million in unpaid duties.