Customs Department to Review Penalties for E-Cigarettes and Cannabis by Piece Instead of Value

The Customs Department is reviewing penalty criteria for smuggling or possessing e-cigarettes and cannabis, moving from value-based to per-piece fines starting in April. Phan Thong Loikullanan, Customs Department Director-General, disclosed that the department is revising penalties for unauthorized import or possession of e-cigarettes and cannabis. The new approach will shift from value-based fines to a per-piece penalty system. "Initially, we plan to set e-cigarette fines at 100 baht per piece and cannabis at 30,000 baht per kilogram. We estimate we can implement these new criteria by April 2024," the director-general stated. He noted that this change is within the director's authority and does not require cabinet approval. In the first four months of the fiscal year (October 2023 - January 2024), authorities seized over 200,000 e-cigarette pieces and 22 tons of cannabis. The new approach will primarily target possession holders at the time of discovery, such as container owners, rather than individual buyers. "Our goal is to fine those possessing e-cigarettes or cannabis at the time of import. If we find these items in a warehouse, the owner will be fined. We won't target small-scale individual orders because legal proceedings for 5-10 pieces were costly and ineffective," the director-general explained.