The government on Friday said it plans to outlaw the possession and use of alternative smoking products in public in a year's time, with a view of extending the ban to other premises going forward.

The items in question include e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.

Officials also want to ban the sale of flavoured tobacco products like cigars and shisha, or smoking through water pipes.

The proposed ban on alternative smoking products such as e-cigarettes, heat sticks and herbal cigarettes in public will come at the end of April next year, after the import and sale of such products were prohibited in Hong Kong in 2022.

Anyone found carrying up to five units of capsules for e-cigarettes, 100 heat sticks and 100 herbal cigarettes would be subject to a fixed penalty fine of HK$3,000.

Deputy Secretary for Health Eddie Lee said the next phase is to extend the ban to the possession of smoking devices. But he told reporters that this wasn't a priority, as public opinion suggests these devices do hold collection value.

The government also proposed that anyone providing alternative smoking products to those under 18 would face a HK$50,000 fine and six months in jail.

Officials said it's worrying that the underaged have access to these products, despite their import and sale bans.

If endorsed, the new penalty would be effective on January 1.

As for the ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products, officials hope to implement that in the second quarter of 2027.

The government noted that the majority of smokers in their 20s now smoke flavoured cigarettes, and most of them said they consumed those products when they first began smoking.

"To counteract tobacco companies’ promotional tactics of using flavoured conventional smoking products, the government proposes to prohibit the sale, offering for sale, and possession for the purpose of sale of conventional smoking products with [flavourings]," the Health Bureau said in documents submitted to the legislature.

But the government said the proposals won't affect inbound passengers carrying flavoured smoking products, saying there are no plans to ban the possession of a small quantity of such products for personal use.