LEGAL REGULATIONS ON THE CONTROL OF TOBACCO AND TOBACCO MATERIAL IMPORT-EXPORT ACTIVITIES IN VIETNAM: CURRENT SITUATION AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

Abstract

The control of tobacco imports and export activities, including tobacco raw materials, is one of the measures directly affecting the quantity and volume of tobacco circulating in the market. In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has made numerous efforts to fulfill commitments under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), such as enacting the Law on Tobacco Harm Prevention and other related legal documents to reduce the smoking rate in Vietnam. However, according to the assessment of the WHO, Vietnam still belongs to the group of countries with a high smoking rate globally. This article focuses on analyzing and evaluating the current legal situation in Vietnam in various aspects, such as import and export principles, import and export conditions, competent authorities for import and export, requirements for imported tobacco, import procedures, import licensing procedures, import quantities, import reporting requirements, labeling and warnings regulations, and so on thereby   identifying the shortcomings and limitations that require improvement in the law system.