It will come into effect on Sunday December 1, 2019…

The UAE Cabinet has announced plans to introduce an excise tax on e-cigarettes, vapes and certain soft drinks. From December 1, 2019, electronic smoking devices, and the liquids used in them, will be hit with a 100 per cent tax, while soft drinks containing added sugar and sweeteners will be subject to a 50 per cent tax.

So, from next year, you can expect to pay twice as much for electronic smoking devices, with prices set to increase by 50 per cent for “any product with added sugar or other sweeteners, whether in form of a beverage, liquid, concentrate, powders, extracts or any product that may be converted into a drink”, previously reported by state news agency, wam.

The tax was originally planned to come into effect in January 2020, but the Federal Tax Authority has now stated the earlier increase.

In a Tweet, the UAE Government said that decision to expand the list of excise taxable products comes in an effort to “enhance public health and reduce consumption of unhealthy goods”.

A full list of the products affected has not yet been given.

The excise tax in the UAE was first launched on October 1, 2017, and saw an excise tax of 100 per cent introduced for tobacco and energy drinks, and 50 per cent for fizzy drinks (except carbonated water).

In April 2019, the Ministry of Finance announced that the UAE was considering adding more products to the excise tax list, so it was anticipated that further products would be added to the list.

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Image: Getty