Are Nicotine Pouches Legal in Vietnam? 2026 Travel & Usage Rules

No Vietnamese instrument in force on 29 July 2026 names oral nicotine pouches. Resolution 173/2024/QH15 — the National Assembly resolution that bans the production, trade, import, storage, transport and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 1 January 2025 — is drafted around those two named categories and does not list pouches; neither does the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms No. 09/2012/QH13. A draft amendment that does name tui ngam nicotine is scheduled for the National Assembly session in October 2026.

That is what the documents say. It is not a verdict that pouches are permitted, and it is not a verdict that they are prohibited — a retailer is not in a position to hand you either one, and any page that does is telling you more than the published texts support. This is general information, dated, and not legal advice.

What Resolution 173/2024/QH15 covers

Resolution 173/2024/QH15 was adopted by the National Assembly on 30 November 2024 and applies from 1 January 2025. Its tobacco clause prohibits the production, trade, import, storage, transport and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, plus other gases and substances harmful to health.

The definitional line the resolution draws is between products that generate an inhaled aerosol and products that do not. An e-cigarette heats a liquid; a heated tobacco product heats processed tobacco. An oral nicotine pouch does neither. It is a fleece pouch of nicotine, plant fibre, flavouring, water and a pH regulator that sits between the upper lip and the gum for twenty to forty minutes. There is no tobacco leaf in it, no device, no battery, no combustion and nothing inhaled.

Penalties for the two prohibited categories were set separately, by Decree 371/2025/ND-CP, in force from 31 December 2025: 3,000,000–5,000,000 VND for an individual using them, and 5,000,000–10,000,000 VND for allowing use at premises you own or manage, with confiscation on top. If you want that side of the picture in detail, we set it out in our FAQ and in the companion guide to the vape ban.

What the 2012 tobacco law covers

The Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms No. 09/2012/QH13 is Vietnam's general tobacco statute. It defines a tobacco product by reference to tobacco material — cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, waterpipe tobacco, and chewing, sniffing and sucking preparations made from tobacco. It sets the smoke-free places, the advertising restrictions and the age limit, and Decree 117/2020/ND-CP supplies its penalties, including 200,000–500,000 VND for smoking where smoking is prohibited.

A tobacco-free nicotine pouch contains no tobacco material. The 2012 law was written before the product reached this market, and it does not name it.

The draft that is scheduled to change this

This is the part most pages leave out, and it is the part a traveller planning anything beyond the next few months actually needs.

On 27 July 2026 Vietnamese media reported Resolution 11/2026/UBTVQH16, signed by National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, adjusting the 2026 legislative programme. It moved the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms from the first session, in April 2026, to the second session in October 2026.

The Ministry of Health's draft, in the version dated 20 July 2026, adds a category of "other new tobacco products" and names nicotine pouches in it, alongside inhalable nicotine products and shisha. The draft would prohibit their manufacture, trade, storage, transport, transit, harbouring and use, with a carve-out for licensed medicines authorised by the competent authority. Reporting puts the amended law's effective date at 1 July 2027, and refers to the prohibition on new tobacco products from 1 January 2027.

None of that is in force. A draft is not a law, the text can change between now and a vote, and a vote can go either way. But it is scheduled, it is dated, and it is the single most important fact on this page. Check the position again before you travel.

Bringing pouches into Vietnam

Vietnam publishes duty-free personal allowances for cigarettes and cigars. We have not found a published allowance written specifically for oral nicotine pouches, which is consistent with the product not being named in the tobacco statute at all.

Three things are worth saying plainly:

• Declare honestly if you are asked. Customs officers ask what you are carrying; the answer is the name of the product. We will not suggest ways to avoid an inspection, and any guide that offers packing tricks for getting nicotine past a border is giving you advice that can only make your position worse.
• Personal quantities are a different conversation from commercial ones. Vietnam's commercial-goods penalty regime scales with consignment value. Arriving with a suitcase of cans is not the same act as arriving with two tins in a jacket pocket, in law or in practice.
• The return leg is a separate country's problem. Rules are national and are not reciprocal. Singapore's Health Sciences Authority lists nicotine pouches among prohibited tobacco products, with import, sale, possession and use all covered there. Thailand's position has been tightening through 2026 and reporting on it conflicts. Check the destination's own customs or health authority before you fly — not a retailer's blog, including this one.

If you would rather not carry anything across a border at all, buying after you land is the simpler route. VinaPouches delivers nationwide from inside Vietnam, with cash on delivery; times and coverage are on the shipping page, and the catalogue is at the shop.

Using pouches day to day in Vietnam

The smoke-free rules in the 2012 law and Decree 117/2020/ND-CP are written about smoking — the act of burning tobacco and producing smoke. A pouch produces no smoke, no vapour and no smell, which is why the practical questions people ask are usually about etiquette rather than enforcement.

What still applies regardless:

• 18+. VinaPouches sells to adults aged 18 and over and verifies age at checkout.
• House rules beat assumptions. An airline, hotel, gym or office can prohibit something the state has not.
• Dispose of used pouches in a bin, not on the street. Used pouches still contain nicotine and must stay away from children and animals.
• Nicotine is addictive. Nothing on this site is a health claim, and VinaPouches is a retailer, not a medical provider. Questions about nicotine and your body go to a doctor or pharmacist.

What this page deliberately does not tell you

It does not tell you that nicotine pouches are permitted in Vietnam. It does not tell you that they are prohibited. It does not predict what an individual customs officer will do, and it does not tell you what to declare beyond "the truth". Those are conclusions that belong to the authorities and to a qualified Vietnamese lawyer, and the honest thing a shop can do is publish the instruments, the dates, and the scheduled change — then re-check them on a short cycle.

Sources

• Resolution 173/2024/QH15, adopted 30 November 2024, in force 1 January 2025 — Tobacco Control Laws.
• Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms No. 09/2012/QH13 and Decree 117/2020/ND-CP — Viet Nam legislation index.
• Decree 371/2025/ND-CP, in force 31 December 2025 — Vietnam Government Portal.
• Draft Law amending the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, draft dated 20 July 2026 — LuatVietnam; VnExpress, 8 July 2026.
• Resolution 11/2026/UBTVQH16 rescheduling the draft to October 2026 — VOV, 27 July 2026.
• Singapore prohibited tobacco products — Health Sciences Authority.

Adults 18+ only. Nicotine pouches contain nicotine, which is an addictive substance. Not for anyone under 18, anyone who does not already use nicotine, or anyone pregnant or breastfeeding.

Last checked: 2026-07-29