Wu Chao-chun, director of Taiwan's Health Promotion Administration (HPA), said on Friday that after two years of preparation, a decision to approve heated tobacco products could come as early as next month.


Eleven tobacco manufacturers have submitted applications to the HPA, and six have completed the document evaluation phase of the approval process. The companies entered the product testing phase of the evaluation, which took six months.


In March 2023, the Tobacco Harm Prevention Act was amended to allow legalization on a case-by-case basis. Approved manufacturers will be authorized to sell their products with appropriate labels and health warnings. Manufacturers that are not approved will be forced to resubmit their applications and restart the process or enter litigation.


Wu said that because documents arrive at different times and often need to be redone, the announcement of the results will be staggered.