Japan–Vietnam Tobacco Customs 2026: Vietnam Bans E-Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Outright

What Resolution 173/2024/QH15 covers

According to the Vietnam News Agency’s policy explainer, the resolution — adopted at the eighth session of the 15th National Assembly — records the Assembly’s agreement to ban six categories of conduct in relation to e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and harmful gases and addictive substances from 2025: production (sản xuất), trading (kinh doanh), import (nhập khẩu), storage or harbouring (chứa chấp), transport (vận chuyển) and use (sử dụng). The explainer describes this as the first time the National Assembly has resolved on a comprehensive ban of these product categories, providing the basis for state agencies to build out regulations and enforce them nationwide.

On penalties, the same source notes that trading in and transporting prohibited goods fall under Articles 190 and 191 of the Criminal Code, while the Ministry of Health has been working on amendments to Decree 117/2020/NĐ-CP to add administrative provisions covering harbouring and use. Because that framework was still being developed, we do not quote figures here. Check current Vietnamese government sources before you travel.

Why "I bought it legally in Japan" does not help

• Entry is governed by the law of the country you arrive in, never the country you departed from — an airport duty-free purchase changes nothing
• A prohibited category is not a tax question, so there is no quantity that becomes acceptable and no duty that fixes it
• Storage and transport are listed as prohibited conduct in their own right, so "it stays in my suitcase" is hard to reconcile with the wording
• Heated tobacco is explicitly covered alongside e-cigarettes, which differs from countries whose rules address vaping only
• The only reliable step is to leave devices, sticks, liquids and pods at home when packing for Vietnam

The Japan side: duty-free quantities and the nicotine track

Japan Customs publishes 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 10 individual packages of heated tobacco (illustrated as IQOS 200 sticks, glo 200 sticks or Ploom TECH 50 capsules) or 250 g of other tobacco, with a 250 g total when more than one kind is carried. The allowance is a tax threshold, not a prohibition line: above it you declare and pay what is assessed. Nicotine e-liquid runs on a separate, stricter track as a pharmaceutical — about one month of personal supply (120 ml) on a customs check, more requiring a Yakkan Shoumei certificate, with the atomising device treated as a medical device at one unit plus a spare. For the full breakdown see our Japan tobacco customs allowance guide, and for the comparable warning on Thailand see the Japan–Thailand guide.

Smoking rules once you are in Japan

Since April 2020 the revised Health Promotion Act has made restaurants, offices and hotels non-smoking indoors by default, with smoking only inside a room that meets the legal requirements; schools, hospitals and government offices are smoke-free across the premises; and nobody under 20 may enter a smoking area (source: MHLW https://jyudokitsuen.mhlw.go.jp/ ). Many municipalities additionally restrict street smoking in designated zones, with amounts and boundaries set locally. Find the nearest designated smoking area on the MottoSuitai map, and see our guide for visitors to Japan for the wider picture.

Scope and sources

This is a third-party summary of information published by Japan Customs, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Vietnam News Agency, current as of August 2026. It is not legal advice, it does not assess any individual item, and it does not describe any means of avoiding declaration or of bringing prohibited goods into any country. Confirm current rules with Japan Customs (https://www.customs.go.jp/ ) and Vietnam Customs (https://www.customs.gov.vn/ ) before travelling. This article provides information about rules and does not encourage smoking.