Vape juice imports escape harsh charges imposed on tobaccos

The Seoul Administrative Court partially sided with vape juice importers in a lawsuit alleging that the Ministry of Health and Welfare wrongfully imposed National Health Promotion Charges for tobacco products.

In a ruling issued in November 2025, the court said that while vape juices should be categorized as cigarettes for legal purposes, the charges levied by health authorities were excessive and violated the principle of equality, according to legal circles on Sunday. Although the plaintiffs are at fault for failing to realize the legal status of their products, there is no evidence suggesting that they knowingly tried to deceive the authorities.

The Health Ministry levied between 278 million won and 1 billion won ($192,000 to $691,000) in National Health Promotion Charges on the plaintiffs, after the importers declared that the juices were manufactured from the roots and stems of tobacco plants.

“The plaintiffs did not include the charge in the consumer price of the vape juices, and therefore the burden of the National Health Promotion Charge was not passed on to consumers,” the court said. “Since the levied charge exceeds the sales revenue from this product by 3.5 times, it is effectively impossible for the plaintiffs to pay the charge.”

The court added that the imposition of the charge failed to serve the law’s intended purposes of reducing health damage from secondhand smoking and creating a fund to promote public health.

It also pointed to structural flaws in the law, noting that all vape juices were subject to a flat charge of 525 won per milliliter, despite differences in nicotine content and, by extension, health effects.

“This case violates the principles of proportionality and equality,” the court said. “The plaintiffs’ claims are therefore justified.”

While the court ruled against what it found to be excessive penalization by the government, it did clarify that vape juices are cigarette products as stipulated under the Tobacco Business Act, which defines cigarettes as “products manufactured in a state suitable for smoking, sucking, inhaling steam, chewing or smelling by using tobacco leaves.”

The National Health Promotion Charges are imposed on products deemed harmful to health and are used to fund anti-smoking campaigns as well as prevention and treatment policies.

The importers argued that vape juices should not be categorized as cigarettes because they are produced from tobacco stems and roots, not leaves.

The court, however, found that vape juices qualify as cigarettes based on legal precedent.