The import of cigarette making materials to the Maldives is already prohibited under the Tobacco Control Act, the Ministry of Health has affirmed.
The Ministry’s clarification follows rumours that the Health Ministry had instructed Maldives Customs Service to ban the import of cigarette paper and filter.
An official from the Health Ministry confirmed that the import of cigarette making materials is prohibited under the Tobacco Control Act and is not a new decision. The Ministry’s role has been to instruct the relevant authorities to implement and enforce the law, he said.
According to amendments to the Tobacco Control Act in November last year, the manufacture of any tobacco product in the Maldives is prohibited. The law also prohibits the import of tobacco plants and other parts of the plant that can be used to grow tobacco plants, including tobacco plant seeds.
The Tobacco Control Act also details the prohibition of tobacco related products. Tobacco products are products made from tobacco, tobacco stems, nicotine, and any other product produced using tobacco, tobacco stems and nicotine. The law also defines tobacco as any substance containing any of the them in any quantity, which allows the substance or substances to be absorbed into the body through chewing, ingesting, inhaling, or application to a part of the body in any way. Therefore, as the paper and filter used to wrap tobacco aids in delivering the tobacco to the body, these materials are classified as tobacco products, and import of these materials are also prohibited.
Addressing rumors that the government has also prohibited the import of tobacco cessation material, the Health Ministry said these are baseless. The Ministry clarified that nicotine replacement therapy or similar treatments and products for smoking cessation which are prescribed and approved by professional bodies are not considered tobacco products under the Act.