Government Expands Testing for Harmful Tobacco Constituents, Tightens Oversight of E-Cigarettes

[Financial News] The government will expand testing for harmful constituents in cigarettes and e-cigarettes and bring forward testing for new tobacco products by up to 17 months. It will also bring smokeless tobacco, cigars and waterpipe tobacco, which were previously excluded from testing, under oversight. The government will link test results to smoking-cessation policies and manage harmful constituents across tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety finalized and announced the “First Basic Plan for Tobacco Harmfulness Management (2027–2031)” on the 29th, following deliberations by the Tobacco Harmfulness Management Policy Committee. It is the first five-year plan drawn up since the Act on the Management of Tobacco Harmfulness took effect last November.
The government will pursue 10 priority tasks under three strategic directions: advancing the tobacco harm management system, establishing a foundation for scientific analysis, and strengthening information provision and links with smoking-cessation policies.
First, the government will gradually expand the range of harmful constituents tested in tobacco products. For cigarettes and cigarette-type e-cigarettes, the number of substances tested will rise from 44 currently to around 50 by 2030, while for liquid e-cigarettes it will increase from 20 to around 30. As a result, smokeless tobacco, cigars and waterpipe tobacco, which were not previously subject to testing, have also been brought under oversight.
According to the government, cigarette sales fell from 3.44 billion packs in 2017 to 2.87 billion packs in 2024, while e-cigarette sales rose over the same period from 80 million packs to 660 million packs. In 2023, about 69,000 deaths in South Korea were attributable to direct smoking, and socioeconomic costs reached about 15 trillion won.
The government plans to require tobacco manufacturers and importers to include intended uses as well as ingredient names in the information they submit, and to prevent false or understated reporting through unannounced on-site inspections.
The government will also bring forward the testing schedule for new tobacco products. Currently, testing must be requested within six months after the start of the year following a product’s launch; going forward, that period will be shortened to within one month of launch. This means testing will take place up to 17 months earlier. In the medium to long term, the government will also consider ways to ensure testing takes place before new tobacco products’ prices are reported.
The government also plans to improve oversight of additives used in tobacco manufacturing by collecting and analyzing information on additives that encourage smoking through taste and aroma, among other things, and considering measures to prohibit the use of certain substances.
The plan also includes systematically managing ingredient information submitted by manufacturers and importers and using data accumulated in a database for smoking-prevention education, anti-smoking campaigns and policymaking. The types of tobacco products under oversight are set to expand from cigarettes and cigarette-type and liquid e-cigarettes in 2026 to include smokeless tobacco and other products such as cigars in 2029. 
MOHW Second Vice Minister Lee Hyung-hoon said, “We will swiftly establish a system for managing harmful constituents in tobacco and pursue strong regulatory policies so we can respond quickly to the rapidly changing tobacco market. We will protect the public from the harms of tobacco, including by lowering the current-use rate of tobacco products among adults to 29.0% for men and 6.0% for women by 2030.”

[email protected] Jeong Sang-hee Reporter