Report 211/BC-BYT: Vietnam Moves to Ban Nicotine Pouches
On 30 January 2026 Vietnam's Ministry of Health issued Report 211/BC-BYT, the regulatory impact assessment for a draft amendment to the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, recommending a ban that covers nicotine pouches. The report selects the broadest of three options considered, and defines the prohibited category by product form, naming oral nicotine pouches explicitly.
This is a draft at the appraisal stage with the Ministry of Justice. It is not enacted law, and the National Assembly has passed nothing. This article reports what the document says, read directly from the 152-page PDF rather than from any summary.
What is Report 211/BC-BYT?
It is a regulatory impact assessment (RIA), the analysis of options and consequences that Vietnamese law requires to accompany a draft bill before it proceeds.
- Document number
- 211/BC-BYT
- Issuing body
- Ministry of Health (Bộ Y tế)
- Date
- 30 January 2026, Hanoi
- Length
- 152 pages
- Replaces
- Report 185/BC-BYT of 28 January 2026
- Purpose
- Submitted to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal of the draft Law amending the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms
- Legal status
- Draft under appraisal. Not law.
Read the original: Report 211/BC-BYT (PDF, 152 pages, 2.2 MB, Vietnamese) — published on the portal of the Quảng Ngãi Department of Science and Technology, file dated 09 February 2026. We link the original on the government server rather than rehosting it, so you can check it against the authoritative source. Accessed 08 August 2026.
Are nicotine pouches covered by the proposed ban?
Yes, and they are named by product form. The draft under the selected option introduces a new legal category, "thuốc lá mới khác" (other new tobacco products). The definition, verbatim from the report:
“Thuốc lá mới khác là sản phẩm có chứa nicotine bao gồm cả nicotine dạng túi để ngậm, dạng hít, shisha và các sản phẩm chứa nicotine khác, không bao gồm các sản phẩm là thuốc dùng cho người hoặc các sản phẩm dùng để cai nghiện thuốc lá, TLĐT, TLNN được cơ quan nhà nước có thẩm quyền phê duyệt.”
In English: other new tobacco products are products containing nicotine, including nicotine in pouch form for oral use, inhaled forms, shisha and other nicotine-containing products, excluding products that are human medicines, or products for treating tobacco dependence, or electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco approved by the competent state authority. The Vietnamese is the operative text; this rendering is for convenience.
Three things are worth noticing. The scope is drawn by product form, not by brand and not by whether the product contains tobacco leaf, so being tobacco-free does not place a product outside it. The phrase "other nicotine-containing products" is a catch-all that reaches forms not yet on the market. And the carve-out is narrow: human medicines and authorised dependence treatments only.
What were the three options considered?
Under Policy 1, the report assesses three:
| Option | Scope | Nicotine pouches |
|---|---|---|
| Option 1 | Keep the status quo under Resolution 173/2024/QH15 of 30 November 2024: prohibit the trade, import, harbouring, transport and use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco | Not covered |
| Option 2 | Prohibit the trade, storage, transit, transport, harbouring of users, and use of electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco and other new tobacco products | Covered |
| Option 3 | Prohibit the trade, storage, transit and transport of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco, without prohibiting harbouring of users or use | Not covered |
Which option did the Ministry select?
Option 2, the broadest. Section 2.3 of the report, "the optimal option selected and the reasons for selecting it", states: "Lựa chọn giải pháp 2: Cấm kinh doanh, tàng trữ, quá cảnh, vận chuyển, chứa chấp người sử dụng, sử dụng thuốc lá điện tử, thuốc lá nung nóng và thuốc lá mới khác."
Note the range of conduct: this option prohibits use, not only trade. Option 3 was the version that restricted commerce while leaving use alone, and it was not selected.
The reasons the report gives are consistency with Resolution 173/2024/QH15, the amended Investment Law of 2025 and Resolution 72-NQ/TW, together with completing the legal framework and improving enforcement.
What does the report say about nicotine pouches specifically?
The report gives the category its own section. Technically, it describes a nicotine pouch as containing a powder of natural or synthetic nicotine with flavourings, sweeteners, organic acids, humectants and cooling agents, which dissolves in the mouth so that nicotine is absorbed through the gum and oral mucosa.
On health, the report cites research finding changes to the oral mucosa, described as varied lesions that tend to increase with intensity and duration of use, accompanied by discomfort in the mouth, and cardiovascular effects including an increased heart rate after acute use. That is the report's content, reported as the report's.
On social factors, it states that these products are marketed with comparative harm claims against cigarettes and with "tobacco-free" labelling, and argues that such marketing can mislead where the nicotine is in fact tobacco-derived. It cites the 2024 US National Youth Tobacco Survey, under which 1.8% of middle and high school students currently use nicotine pouches, and among high school students they are the second most commonly used tobacco product.
How does this compare with the rest of ASEAN?
The report records a wide spread across the region, from outright prohibition to conditional regulation. Singapore bans comprehensively, covering use, circulation, import trading, distribution and consumption. Indonesia and Malaysia instead require product registration, health warning labelling, and tax and trade controls. The report cites Singapore as the reference model for a comprehensive ban.
What does the report say about the effect on businesses?
In its own assessment, a comprehensive ban would affect importers, distributors, retailers and online sellers operating informally, all of whom would have to stop trading the prohibited products.
It also states that no domestic tobacco company currently manufactures or formally trades these products in Vietnam, so the prohibition would cause no economic loss to domestic manufacturers.
Is VinaPouches mentioned in the report?
Yes. This website is cited as a reference in the report's footnotes, at notes 75 and 199, as "VinaPouches - Nicotine Pouches & Snus Online in Vietnam".
We are stating that plainly because it is something a reader should know when weighing an article written by a seller of the product in question. This page takes no position for or against the policy. Everything above is quotation and attributed reporting, with document numbers and dates so you can check it yourself against the linked original.
What is the law in Vietnam right now?
The instrument in force is Resolution 173/2024/QH15 of 30 November 2024, which prohibits the trade, import, harbouring, transport and use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco. It does not name nicotine pouches, and that gap is precisely what Option 2 in the draft is designed to close.
Report 211/BC-BYT is an appraisal step, not an adoption step. The proposal has to move through the legislative process and should be re-checked at the National Assembly session in October 2026.
If you need a legal conclusion about a specific situation, whether trading, importing or personal use, ask a lawyer qualified in Vietnam. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Nicotine is an addictive substance and raises heart rate and blood pressure. These products are for adults 18 and over who already use nicotine. Keep away from children and pets — a used pouch still contains nicotine.
This article reports the contents of Report 211/BC-BYT of 30 January 2026 by Vietnam's Ministry of Health, read directly from the PDF published on the portal of the Quảng Ngãi Department of Science and Technology. Quotations are verbatim in the original Vietnamese. This is general information, not legal advice. Regulation of oral nicotine products in Vietnam is changing and should be re-checked after the National Assembly session of October 2026. Last reviewed: 08/08/2026.
Frequently asked questions
A nicotine pouch is a small white pouch of nicotine, plant fibre, flavouring and water that you park between your upper lip and gum for 15 to 60 minutes. No tobacco, no smoke, no vapour, no spitting. Nicotine crosses the gum lining rather than the lungs, so nothing is inhaled and nothing is burnt. A pouch leaves no smell on your hands, clothes or breath, which is why they are used at a desk, on a motorbike, in a meeting or on a flight where smoking is impossible. Pouches come in strengths from 3mg to 25mg and in slim, mini and regular formats.
Swedish snus is made from ground tobacco leaf and is brown; nicotine pouches are white and use plant fibre in place of tobacco. Both sit under the lip. Everything VinaPouches sells is the white, tobacco-free kind. The practical differences: white pouches do not stain teeth the way brown snus can, they release flavour rather than tobacco taste, and they produce far less saliva. Several brands in our catalog — Skruf, Lundgrens, Siberia — are old Swedish snus houses that now also make the white tobacco-free version. When a heritage brand appears here, it is their white line.
No. Every pouch VinaPouches sells is tobacco-free: nicotine, plant-based fibre (usually eucalyptus or pine cellulose), food-grade flavouring, sweetener and water. No tobacco leaf, dust or stem is used at any stage. Tobacco-free does not mean nicotine-free. The nicotine in a white pouch is still nicotine and is still addictive; it is simply not delivered on a bed of tobacco. If you want a product with no nicotine at all, look at the Zero and Energy lines.
VinaPouches sells only to adults aged 18 and over. Age is confirmed at the age gate on entry and again at checkout, and couriers may ask for ID on delivery. Orders that fail an age check are cancelled. Nicotine pouches are not for people who do not already use nicotine, at any age. Buying on behalf of someone under 18 is a breach of our terms and will close the account.
Oral nicotine pouches are not named in Vietnam's ban on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco (Resolution 173/2024/QH15, in force from 1 January 2025), and no Vietnamese statute currently in force names them either way. Resolution 173/2024/QH15, passed by the National Assembly on 30 November 2024, prohibits the production, trade, import, storage, transport and use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 1 January 2025. Its scope is written around those two categories. Oral nicotine pouches — pouches placed under the lip, containing no tobacco and involving no heating or aerosol — are a separate product category and are not listed. A draft amendment to the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, which would bring oral nicotine products including `túi ngậm nicotine` into a defined regulatory category, has been under preparation and is expected to reach a National Assembly vote around October 2026. If it passes, this answer changes. VinaPouches will update this entry and its review date within seven days of any change in the published text of the law. The Ministry of Health's draft amendment dated 20 July 2026 names túi ngậm nicotine explicitly and proposes a ban from 1 January 2027; Resolution 11/2026/UBTVQH16 scheduled it for the October 2026 National Assembly session.