BD1,000 Fines Planned for Vape Sales to Minors
Vape shops refilling pods at rock-bottom prices would face tougher rules under a government-drafted bill aimed at stopping cheap tobacco and vaping products reaching children, with fines of up to BD1,000 and permanent closure for repeat offenders.
MP Mohammed Mousa, chairman of Parliament’s Public Utilities and Environment Committee, said the bill is due before Parliament in the next legislative session and would cover tobacco, vapes and electronic shisha products sold to anyone under 18.
He said cheap pod refills had made vaping easily affordable to youngsters and would fall within the planned rules.
Under Bahrain’s law now in force, selling or giving tobacco products to anyone under 18 is banned. A 2025 amendment sets a fine of at least BD100 for breaching that rule and allows a court, following conviction, to close a shop for up to three months or confiscate the materials used.
The government bill would take the penalty for sales to children to BD1,000, according to Mohammed Mousa, with repeat offenders facing permanent closure.
He said a large number of shops suspected of selling tobacco and vaping products to under-18s had already been identified and referred to the relevant authorities, with legal action taken under existing rules.
‘The sale of these products to children has become widespread, and getting hold of these products and devices has become very easy because of breaches by some shops,’ he told The Daily Tribune.
Mohammed Mousa also called for parents, schools, ministries and community groups to work together on a wider plan to curb the problem.
‘All sides need to work together, parents, schools, the Education Ministry, government bodies, community groups and associations,’ he said. ‘We need a full programme to tackle this problem, with everyone playing a part.’
The bill would also impose new checks on electronic shisha and vape shops.
Retailers would have to install CCTV cameras, record sales and keep the footage and sales records so they could be checked where there was reason to suspect an unlawful sale to a child.
Mohammed Mousa said MPs and the government had agreed to draft a full bill to get the changes through Parliament faster because of the harm caused when children get hold of tobacco and vapes.
The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Waqf has already approved the draft, he said. It is now with the Ministry of Health for its final wording before being sent to Parliament for debate in the next session.
Lawyer Zainab Madan said taking the penalty from the current minimum of BD100 to BD1,000 would give the law greater bite.
‘The effectiveness of a penalty rests on its value, how well it matches the seriousness of the offence and its real power to deter,’ she told The Daily Tribune.
Madan said harsher punishment was justified when harmful products were sold to children because the law was meant to stop harm before it happened.
Permanent closure for repeat offenders would carry even greater weight, she said, as owners could lose their businesses altogether.
She warned that permanent closure should follow clear legal rules, with repeated breaches properly proved and the proper legal steps followed.
‘The penalty must be harsh enough to stop the offence while still taking account of the facts and seriousness of each case,’ she said.
Higher fines would also need stronger inspections and enforcement, Madan added, or the new penalties risked remaining words on paper.
‘The aim is to make selling tobacco and vapes to children a legal and financial risk that shop owners will not be willing to take,’ she said.
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