For those who don't already know, Singapore's minimum legal age for smoking will be raised to 20 years old from Jan 1, 2020.

The current minimum legal age is 19 years old.

The gradual increase in age limit over the years is part of the Ministry Of Health (MOH)'s anti-smoking laws passed in 2017.

Minimum legal age will eventually reach 21 years old

In November 2017, the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale ) Amendment Bill was debated and passed in parliament.

One of the proposed changes was to progressively increase the smoking minimum legal age from 18 to 21 over the course of a few years.

This means that from Jan. 1, 2021, Singapore's smoking minimum legal age will eventually be raised to 21 years old.

MOH said that it aims to prevent Singaporean youths from picking up smoking by limiting access to tobacco products, and to also further de-normalise smoking for those below 21.

Offenders will be punished

According to the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act, those under the minimum legal age are not allowed to buy, use, possess, sell or supply tobacco products.

If caught, they can be fined up to S$300.

Retailers who sell tobacco products to underage people may be fined up to S$5,000 for the first offence, and S$10,000 for subsequent offences.

Those caught buying a tobacco product on behalf of an underage person may be fined up to S$2,500 for the first offence and S$5,000 for subsequent offences.

If you are caught giving tobacco to someone under the minimum legal age, you may be fined up to S$500 for the first offence, and S$1,000 for subsequent offences.

Top photo via Pixabay.

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