Facing 5 years for Vaping in Thailand
Author: Josh@Asiabackpackers
Discover Thailand with Thailand Discovery
Vaping in Thailand could get you 5 Years in the monkey house
Facing 5 years for Vaping in Thailand
While the rest of the world considers the health benefits of e cigarettes, in Thailand those that puff away like a reborn Marlborough Man, face five years jail, or a fine of four times the value of the goods or both jail and a fine.
Strangely, falling foul of the law is not due to vaping, as there is ‘NO’ actual law banning the possession of E-cigarettes in Thailand. The problem is due to the fact, these products fall into a category of, ‘goods that have not been taxed‘. This means being caught in possession of E-cigarettes, is therefore illegal, falling as it does under the scope of Customs and Excise:
Customs Act Section 20 is basically about being able to be arrested without an arrest warrant if you are breaking the law
Customs Act Section 27 states basic tax evasion, import duty stuff where the maximum 5 year sentence is from.
The maximum Five year sentence is linked to the import/export ban, meaning that if you are simply in possession of a vaping device, or its liquid, you have broken the law.
Vaping in Thailand
Although there are reports of the police confiscating, E-cigarettes used in public places, we could not find details of anyone being arrested or fined. As with so much in this part of the world, implementing the law is down to the discretion of each individual police officer and in some cases the need to help in their own retirement planning………….
The law on Importing E-cigarettes
The importation, sale and production for sale of E-cigarettes, is also illegal with offenders liable to 10 year sentences for production and sale and a fine of five times the value of the goods or both. This law has been on the statute since December 2014.
Vaping in Thailand
Buying E-cigarettes in Thailand
To confuse the situation further, both E-cigarettes and their e-liquids are readily available within the country. A quick Google search shows numerous places and sites where you can get your fix.
But there’s the rub, will these providers have paid the duty and would carrying proof of purchase be enough to keep you the right side of the law…who knows?
There you have it, clear as mud……………. just like the possession of fireworks in the Kingdom it is the person not the provider who is legally responsible ………by using E-cigarettes purchased inside, or out of the Kingdom, you do so at your own risk!
Copy right
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of Thailand or topic discussed in the article.
This constitutes ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from Asia-backpackers.com, please contact us.
[wp-review id=””]
“While the rest of the world considers the health benefits of e cigarettes…”
Seriously? Is there a country in the world that is considering ‘the health benefits’ of sucking in flavored nicotine through a tube?
A horribly misleading and hysterical article about nothing… and if anyone seriously finds joy in these disgusting gadgets you really need your head examined.
Many people ‘vape’ as an alternative to smoking cigarettes, as it is less harmful. We are very often asked if it is legal in Thailand and this post answers that question.
It is of interest to those who wish to Vape in Thailand, but you are entitled to your opinions.
heard about these laws for about a year, but yet haven’t heard of a single arrest. of course it’s best to quit completely, but after 20 years of smoking regular cigarettes, and the past 3 years vaping, my experience is that vaping feels amazingly better, and allows to decrease nicotine addiction. my global health (breath, skin, digestion, mood, everything) improved drastically.
for thailand, i just see more and more people vape everywhere, and it is really easy to buy gear online or in the bangkok stores.
banning is just dead stupid, vaping should just be taxed as nicotine product, will make money for prevention(so i’m not saying people should just start vaping, but smokers should switch)
teachermarkthailand, you have no idea what you are talking about, nor ability to comprehend others perception, just stfu. yes, some countries promote ecigarette as alternative to tobacco, that is pretty every country that didn’t ban vaping.
Visitor Rating: 3 Stars
This is madness, what if a tourist is coming to Thailand? they bought their vape stuff in the UK and paid tax on it, they also bought their clothes, phone, shoes, watch and anything else they are taking with them in the Uk, none of these things have been taxed in Thailand, but they have in the UK. So does that mean every single thing that they take into the kingdom is Illegal? Should tourists turn up completely naked with a passport and a bank card ready to buy everything from underwear to toothbrush. I know my post comes across as stupid but not anymore stupid than this law. Good one Thailand, you have done it again.
[…] gut informierte Foren über die erheblichen rechtlichen Risiken für Dampfer in Thailand. So heißt es auf Thailand Discovery, dass der Import von E-Zigaretten verboten sei und mit bis zu fünf Jahren […]
[…] Source: Thailand Discovery […]
To address the comments of teachermarkThailand: After being diagnosed with COPD in 2015 (and as a former respiratory therapist) I turned to vaping when all other methods of smoking cessation had failed. In 2017 I was given a normal pulmonary function test showing that since starting to vape my lungs were now as clear as an adult my age who’d never smoked. So maybe you should rethinking your comments, because apparently my lungs were examined and they are just fine after vaping.
I live and Vape in Thailand and I see many other people doing the same thing. I have even brought my vaping machine through customs on numerous occasions without any problem. I looks like they are not applying this ruling.
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars