South Korea tightens e-cigarette rules, targets nicotine-free label fraud and synthetic nicotine loopholes

The government is launching a hazard assessment of nicotine-like substances and stepping up enforcement against liquid e-cigarette products that falsely claim to contain no nicotine.

The moves come after synthetic nicotine e-cigarettes were brought under tobacco regulations, but cases of regulatory evasion — including the sale of raw nicotine solutions and products disguised as nicotine-free — continued to emerge, leaving gaps in oversight.

Related ministries, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Korea Customs Service, said Wednesday they would pursue the measures.

The government, coordinating through the Office for Government Policy Coordination, has designated the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as the lead agency for assessing the hazards of nicotine-like substances. The ministry will soon begin evaluating the health risks of nicotine analogs intended for inhalation, including 6-methylnicotine, which shares a chemical structure with nicotine. The government said it would explore follow-up measures based on the findings.

Enforcement against regulatory evasion is also being tightened. The government said it detected signs that raw nicotine solution was being marketed for mixing and inhaling in e-cigarettes, and referred the case to investigators in May. Authorities are also testing the ingredients of nicotine-free-labeled products sold online, and said they plan to refer cases to investigators to examine possible violations of the Tobacco Business Act and potential tax evasion if nicotine is detected.

The measures were drawn up in response to concerns raised by Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Jin-uk over alleged tax evasion in the liquid e-cigarette sector and gaps in the regulatory framework.

Jeong said Tuesday that Chinese-made liquid e-cigarettes had been declared as synthetic nicotine products — and thus exempt from tobacco taxes — but may in fact contain natural nicotine extracted from tobacco leaves. He said that because Chinese law makes it effectively impossible to manufacture and export synthetic nicotine liquid e-cigarettes, a significant number of products imported into South Korea may have been falsely declared.

Jeong said this practice may have resulted in between 16 trillion and 20 trillion won ($13 billion) in lost tax revenue from 2016 to 2025. He also said a tax gap arose because the amended Tobacco Business Act, which took effect April 24, applies only to products manufactured or imported after that date, leaving pre-existing inventory untaxed.

The government said it has continuously strengthened oversight and enforcement of synthetic nicotine imports. It said supporting documentation has been required since November 2019, and that from June 15 it added a tobacco import and sales registration certificate, bringing the total number of required documents to six. Importers are also required to declare whether the nicotine is natural or synthetic and to state the nicotine content at the time of import declaration.

The Korea Customs Service developed its own analytical method in 2022 to distinguish between natural and synthetic nicotine, and has been using it to crack down on false declarations. Cases in which natural nicotine was falsely declared as synthetic stood at 10 (290 liters) in 2022, 27 (163 liters) in 2023, five (1.62 liters) in 2024, and two (0.02 liters) in 2025.

The government also said it has confirmed that while the production of synthetic nicotine solution is strictly regulated in China, exports are not completely banned, and no specific regulations governing exports to South Korea were found.

On the controversy over when the amended Tobacco Business Act takes effect, the government said concerns about retroactive legislation were raised during National Assembly deliberations, which is why the law applies only to products manufactured or imported after the effective date. However, to prevent the long-term circulation of inventory manufactured or imported before the law took effect, the government has drawn up safety management standards for pre-existing liquid e-cigarette stock under the Framework Act on Consumers, which have been in force since April 28.