Austria beefs up regulatory stance with Non-Smoking Act

Austria has recently tightened up its regulatory stance with the Non Smoking Act (Nichtraucherschutzgesetz) restricting the purchasing age for e-cigs and similar tobacco products to 18 years old, from 1st January 2019. Previously, the minimum age for buying tobacco-related products was 16 years old.

The new age limit was voted into law in the federal parliament in April 2018, and now needs to be implemented by each state or land.

The Austrian Ministry of Health told ECigIntelligence that six of nine states (Vorarlberg, Tirol, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Styria and Burgenland) have already implemented the new restrictions.