If you are asking whether the GEG bill is coming back in Malaysia, the record as at October 2026 says no. No bill to bring back the generational end game has been tabled. In a written parliamentary reply reported by The Star on 13 August 2025, the Ministry of Health said “The Generational Endgame policy is not being implemented for now”. The calls to revive it in 2026 have come from health groups, not from the Government.
The generational end game, or GEG, would have barred anyone born on or after 1 January 2007 from buying tobacco and vape products for life. It was removed before the bill that became Act 852 was passed in 2023.
The position described here is as at 23 October 2026.
What the generational end game was
The GEG was first put into a bill in the Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022, which the then Health Minister tabled for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat on 27 July 2022 (CodeBlue, 27 July 2022). Its generational clause applied to anyone born on or after 1 January 2007.
CodeBlue reported that the bill would have prohibited that group from purchasing “any tobacco product, smoking substance, substitute tobacco product, or smoking device”, and from smoking, using or possessing them, with a fine of up to RM5,000. It covered vape as well as tobacco.
When the clause returned in 2023, the maximum penalty for that group was reduced to a RM500 fine or community service, and personal possession was no longer an offence (CodeBlue, 12 June 2023).
From the 2022 bill to Act 852
- 27 July 2022: the 2022 bill is tabled for first reading (CodeBlue, 27 July 2022).
- 2 August 2022: after two days of second-reading debate, the Dewan Rakyat agrees unanimously to refer the bill to a special select committee of 13 members (Hansard, Dewan Rakyat, 2 August 2022).
- October 2022: by 4 October, CodeBlue reports, all 13 committee members have agreed revisions to the bill (CodeBlue, 4 October 2022). Parliament is dissolved later that month, before the bill is passed.
- 12 June 2023: the generational clause returns in a new bill, the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill 2023. It is tabled for first reading and referred straight to the Health select committee (CodeBlue, 12 June 2023).
- November 2023: CodeBlue reports that the Cabinet has decided to separate the GEG from the bill, on the Attorney General’s advice that it is unconstitutional. The Attorney General sets out that view in a public statement on 18 November 2023 (CodeBlue, 19 November 2023).
- 28 November 2023: a revised bill without the GEG is tabled, and the June version is withdrawn (Malay Mail, 28 November 2023).
- 30 November 2023: the Dewan Rakyat passes the revised bill by voice vote (The Star, 30 November 2023).
- 14 December 2023: the Dewan Negara passes it (CodeBlue, 14 December 2023).
- 2024: the Act receives royal assent on 24 January, is published in the Gazette on 2 February and comes into force on 1 October 2024 as Act 852 (see our Act 852 page).
The 2022 bill never became law. The generational clause did come back, in the 2023 bill, and was removed before that bill passed. In its place, Act 852 sets an under-18 rule: section 13 prohibits the sale of smoking products to minors, and section 17 prohibits minors from smoking or using them. Our Act 852 page and our article on what Act 852 actually covers set out the rest of the law.
Why it was dropped
The reason on the public record is the Attorney General’s. In his statement of 18 November 2023, as reported by CodeBlue, he said the provisions “can be challenged in court because it contravenes Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, as those provisions create unequal treatment before the law between a person born before January 1, 2007, and a person born on or after January 1, 2007”. Article 8 provides for equality before the law.
That was the Attorney General’s view. No court has ruled on whether the GEG is constitutional.
Where MOVE stood
On 30 June 2022, as the generational end game proposal was being debated publicly, MOVE took part in Astro AWANI’s “Dialog Tiga Penjuru”, in the episode “Generasi Penamat Rokok”, with Dr Wong Chee Kuan and Prof Madya Dr Norashidah Mohamed Nor. The recording is listed on our media page.
In October 2022, MOVE filed a memorandum of objection to the bill at Parliament. Both are recorded on our work page and in our short history.
Is it coming back?
What the Government has said
In the Dewan Negara debate on the bill, which the Senate passed on 14 December 2023, the Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, said “at a more suitable time in future, we may revisit this issue”, as reported by CodeBlue. That was a 2023 statement, not a current plan.
The more recent statement is the written parliamentary reply of August 2025. The Star reported on 13 August 2025 that the Government has no plans to reinstate the GEG. In the ministry’s own words, “The Generational Endgame policy is not being implemented for now”. The reply added that the sale and use of smoking products among minors are already prohibited under sections 13 and 17 of Act 852 (The Star, 13 August 2025).
Who is asking for it in 2026
Three health groups have called for the GEG to return this year, each in a statement carried by CodeBlue.
- Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control (MCTC), 29 April 2026: “we respectfully call on Malaysia to reconsider the inclusion of the Generational End Game (GEG) provision in Act 852” (CodeBlue, 29 April 2026).
- Lung Cancer Network Malaysia (LCNM), 3 June 2026, for World No Tobacco Day: “we request the Health Ministry to meaningfully revisit a generational end game (GEG) tobacco ban” (CodeBlue, 3 June 2026).
- Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWATCH), 23 September 2026, in its Budget 2027 statement: “MyWATCH calls on the government to reintroduce the GEG through an appropriate, legally robust framework” (CodeBlue, 23 September 2026).
LCNM pairs its call with one to relist liquid nicotine under the Poisons List. MyWATCH pairs its call with one to prohibit the commercial sale of recreational nicotine vaping products.
What has not happened
We have found no statement in 2026 from the Government or the Ministry of Health proposing to revive the GEG, and no GEG bill has been reported. We have also found no public statement that the Attorney General’s constitutional objection has been resolved or withdrawn.
The Dewan Rakyat has been sitting since 5 October 2026 and is scheduled to rise on 8 December (Bernama, 5 October 2026). The Star’s preview of the opening week named no GEG or vape bill (The Star, 3 October 2026), and no such bill had been read in the Dewan Rakyat up to 21 October, according to the Hansard. Budget 2027, tabled on 9 October 2026, did not mention the GEG (Ministry of Finance, Budget 2027 speech).
A nationwide ban on vape is a separate question from the GEG. On 16 December 2025 the Health Minister said “the decision has already been made at the Cabinet level to move towards a ban” (The Star, 16 December 2025). No ban bill has been published. Our policy tracker follows that question.
What the UK did
MCTC’s April statement cites the United Kingdom as its model. The UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 received royal assent on 29 April 2026. Its long title includes “prohibiting the sale of tobacco to people born on or after 1 January 2009”, and the age-of-sale provisions come into force on 1 January 2027 (legislation.gov.uk).
Section 1, which applies in England and Wales, makes it an offence to sell a tobacco product, a herbal smoking product or cigarette papers to anyone in that group (legislation.gov.uk, section 1). Vapes are regulated elsewhere in the Act, but they are not part of the generational ban. Malaysia’s 2022 and 2023 versions covered vape as well as tobacco.
We update our policy tracker when the position changes.