Press conference in Q4 of 2026: the launch of the MOVE website and the publication of our commissioned research. Media only. Event details
Press conference in Q4 of 2026: the launch of the MOVE website and the publication of our commissioned research. Media only. Event details
Buying safe
Approved and unapproved liquids sit on the same shelf in this country and look much the same. Here’s our guide on how to spot a compliant bottle.
Malaysia’s Packaging and Labelling Regulations 2024 spell out what has to be on the pack.
Everything on this page was read directly against the gazette: Packaging and Labelling Regulations 2024, P.U.(A) 261/2024, bilingual, 234 pages. On the graphic and text warnings panel, do note the 65% figure. Trade guidance circulating in the market says 50%, and it is wrong. The gazette is the source. What a P.U.(A) number means.
A sample bottle, for illustration. Not a real product. The graphic warning and the English warning text are not shown here.
The six things:
Graphic and text warnings must cover 65% of both the front and back panels, running from the top edge. Bahasa Malaysia goes on the front, English on the back. The word “AMARAN” or “WARNING” appears in yellow on matt black, with the warning text in white on matt black.
The warning text includes “Produk ini menghasilkan bahan kimia yang membahayakan kesihatan” (the product produces chemicals harmful to health), plus the cessation-support service at jomquit.moh.gov.my and the line “Dilarang Jual Kepada orang belum dewasa” (sale to minors is prohibited).
Nicotine content must be shown. The legal cap is 20 mg per ml, reduced from 35 mg per ml on 1 October 2025. Anything claiming more than 20 mg per ml is not compliant.
The flavouring used has to be stated on the pack.
The manufacturer or importer’s name and full address must appear, and a P.O. box does not count. There must also be a manufacturing date, marked “Tarikh Dikilang”.
Bottled e-liquid is capped at 15 ml under Part I of the Fifth Schedule. A disposable pod or cartridge is capped at 2 ml under regulation 9(4), in force since 1 October 2026. It was 3 ml under regulation 9(3) before that. Pods must not be made to look like toys or food.
Non-compliant packaging can be reported to the Ministry of Health through MyLapor.
Under Act 852 there are no legal online sales, no vending machines, no self-service displays, and no selling from stalls, night markets or roadsides. Do buy from a licensed retailer.
Both panels should carry the graphic and text health warning at the coverage described above, Bahasa Malaysia on the front and English on the back. A warning that is too small falls short of the 65% coverage the regulations require. A warning on one panel only fails the both-panels rule, and a pack with no warning at all fails both.
A real address, not a P.O. box, plus the manufacturing date.
20 mg per ml is the ceiling. Bottles above 15 ml, or pods above the current cartridge cap, are not compliant products.
Regulation 13 of the Packaging and Labelling Regulations 2024 bars descriptors such as “light”, “ultra light”, “mild”, “cool”, “extra”, “low tar”, “special”, “full flavour”, “premium”, “rich”, “famous”, “slim”, “grade A”, “golden”, “pearl” and “edition”, or any similar term implying that one product is less harmful than another. It also bars grading, quality or supremacy claims that do not relate to the product’s physical characteristics.
This is not government mandated but is offered by the brands themselves to proactively combat counterfeits to protect the consumer. So if there is a code, you can also scan it to check if you have bought original products.
On the scale of it, a Malaysian manufacturer told Free Malaysia Today on 4 August 2025 that the flood of illegal and counterfeit product is the priority issue.
CodeBlue, 9 June 2025, quoting Dr Hairul Nizam Abd Hamid of the Ministry of Health’s disease control division on vape product registrations being under review.
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