Electric and electronic cigarettes are illegal in Thailand – Prohibition on importing by tourists

      The Department of Disease Control, Office of the Consumer Protection Committee, Royal Thai Police, Customs Department, and the Department of Foreign Trade summarize their position on e-cigarette control laws, which cover sale, import, and possession.

      1. In the case of an electric cigarettes seller or service provider, the Consumer Protection Board has issued an order prohibiting the sale or prohibition of services for “Baraghu [baraku, hookah, or shisha], electric Baraghu or electric cigarettes or liquids for refilling electric Baraghu or electric cigarettes” with a penalty under the Consumer Protection Act of imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than 600,000 baht.

      2. In the case of electric cigarette importers, it is an offense according to the announcement of the Ministry of Commerce regarding hookah and electric baraghu, or electric cigarettes, which is a product that was prohibited from being imported into the Kingdom in 2014. Importation is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of 5 times the price of the product, or both, with the confiscation of the electric cigarettes, including containers and any vehicles used to carry such electric cigarette products; it is also an offense according to Customs Act 2017, Section 244, which is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than 500,000 baht, or both.

    3. In case of possession or acceptance of electric cigarettes, which are prohibited items that may not be imported into the Kingdom, there will be an offense of helping to conceal, assisting in selling, assisting in taking away, buying or receiving in any manner whatsoever, if the offender knew them to be goods that had entered the Kingdom without having passed through the customs formalities correctly, according to Section 246, paragraph one of the Customs Act, 2017. Offenders are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine four times the price of goods or both.
 In addition, the Tobacco Products Control Act of 2017 prohibits smoking in public areas with original baraghu, electric baraghu, and electronic cigarettes (if nicotine is added as an ingredient), with a fine of not more than 5,000 baht