Author: David Palacios Rubio
The way ahead: Big Tobacco looks to a smoke-free next generation
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 20th November 2017 || Business briefing |
Big Tobacco is moving towards a smoke-free future, with all the leading companies indicating a focus in 2018 on next generation products, whether e-cigarettes or heated tobacco products ...
Italy’s Constitutional Court rules that it’s OK after all to tax nicotine-free e-liquid
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 16th November 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The Italian Constitutional Court in Rome has ruled that taxing non-nicotine e-liquids is legitimate, ending a temporary suspension imposed in 2015 by a lower court ...
Web traffic shows global interest in HnB since Big Tobacco product launches
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 10th November 2017 || Marketing & retailing |
A new market report from ECigIntelligence reveals the growth in global internet traffic to heated tobacco websites since the launch of heat-not-burn products by some Big Tobacco companies ...
German TV channel deletes programme after linking vaping with drugs
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 9th November 2017 || Marketing & retailing |
A German TV station has deleted an episode of a popular series from its website because it inadvertently used the name of a real e-liquid company in a storyline involving the vaping of drugs ...
The Arabian Gulf and Maghreb – widely separated on e-cig regulation
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 8th November 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
There are enormous differences between the so-called Arab nations of the Gulf and the Maghreb – not least in their very different approaches to e-cigs and their users ...
Russia’s five-year plan to come down hard on tobacco and e-cigs
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 2nd November 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The Russian health ministry’s new five-year plan to reduce tobacco consumption includes a “continuous increase” of excise duties on tobacco-related products, including e-cigarettes ...
Vaping continues to grow in Belgium, where one in seven have tried it
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 2nd November 2017 || Business briefing |
A survey of Belgian smoking and vaping habits shows 14% of the country’s population have tried e-cigs, and 3% vape at least once a week ...
Poland considering lower e-liquid tax proposal
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 24th October 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
A proposed lower tax rate for e-liquids is not getting a positive reception among Poland's e-cig industry, with manufacturers continuing to claim that if the proposal is passed it will destroy the vaping...
Glo ‘could transform’ tobacco consumption in Russia, says BAT
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 23rd October 2017 || Business briefing |
British American Tobacco (BAT) has announced the launch of its Glo heat-not-burn (HnB) device in Russia, where the device can be bought online and Neosticks consumables will be available in branded stores ...
Will tobacco price rise send smokers to e-cigs? France puts it to the test
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 19th October 2017 || Business briefing |
France is planning a steep rise in the minimum price of traditional cigarettes – but will that lead to an increased take-up of e-cigarettes as an alternative? It could certainly create an opportunity for the industry ...
High or low? Survey gives a picture of e-cig use in Switzerland
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 5th October 2017 || Business briefing |
Switzerland’s vaping industry is not entirely convinced by statistics for e-cig use published by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the foundation Addiction Suisse ...
Some scepticism greets PMI’s $80m-a-year support for a Smoke-Free World
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 21st September 2017 || Business briefing |
The launch of the Philip Morris International-sponsored Foundation for a Smoke-Free World has met with mixed reactions from the world of science and public health ...
Sweden may follow Finnish model as it prepares to impose e-cig tax
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 20th September 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Sweden is set to bring in a new tax on e-cigarettes, following a proposal in the national budget for 2018. The exact nature and level of the tax will be determined after consultation with relevant bodies ...
Rare but dangerous – France’s official warning on e-cig battery fires
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 14th September 2017 || Business briefing |
The French consumer affairs department has published a list of recommendations on the use of e-cigarette batteries following two recent reports of explosions in users’ pockets ...
Netherlands to extend 10 ml limit to non-nicotine e-liquids
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 7th September 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The Dutch health ministry is to bring in new regulation of vapour products, including a 10 ml limit on non-nicotine e-liquids and some vaguely worded restrictions on e-cigarette packaging ...
Germans hear it officially: e-cigs are ‘significantly’ safer than tobacco
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 31st August 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
A study for the German government has concluded that “e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than tobacco”, but adds a warning that the long-term effects remain unknown ...
Belgium gets tough – and it’s all for the vaping market’s own good
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 23rd August 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Facebook groups, vape stores with websites, and private vaping rooms have all been targeted as officials tell vapers: buy from specialist stores, where products are controlled and safe ...
Slovenia’s tough regime remains for now an untested work in progress
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 11th August 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Slovenia was among the last few countries in the EU to transpose the TPD into national law, and it is not yet fully clear how a tough regulatory regime will play out in practice ...
Croatian study finds e-liquids break the rules on nicotine concentration
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 10th August 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Researchers in Croatia have found that more than half the e-liquids they tested exceeded the maximum nicotine concentration level laid down by the European TPD ...
Big Tobacco factories switch production from cigarettes to HnB as demand rises
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 10th August 2017 || Business briefing |
Increasing demand for smoke-free products is leading many tobacco companies to open new facilities for heat-not-burn manufacturing – in some cases, even replacing...
E-cigs are Italians’ favourite smoking cessation aid – but most use nothing
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 3rd August 2017 || Business briefing |
More than a tenth of Italians trying to give up smoking (10.7%) use e-cigarettes to help them – more than any other cessation aids – but the vast majority use no aid at all ...
From Russian elevators to US taxes, a change is gonna come
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 3rd August 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
2017 has already been a significant year in the short history of e-cigarettes – and there is more to come in the remaining five months of a the year ...
FDA squeeze on nicotine in combustibles could hasten Big Tobacco move to HnB
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 3rd August 2017 || Business briefing |
A move by the US FDA to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes to non-addictive levels could encourage Big Tobacco to put yet more effort into alternatives ...
High notification fees ‘will kill the legal market’ in Luxembourg
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 21st July 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Little Luxembourg faces the highest TPD product notification fees in Europe - and the fear is it will kill off the country’s legal vape trade ...
BAT’s $49bn Reynolds takeover is on – with big reduced-risk potential
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 20th July 2017 || Business briefing |
The $49.4bn takeover of Reynolds American by British American Tobacco (BAT) is set to go through next week after being approved by shareholders of both...
Stores look on the bright side of TPD – especially in the UK
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 13th July 2017 || Business briefing |
Some vape store owners are optimistic despite the restrictions the TPD places on the e-cig industry, according to three new national surveys by...
Von Erl prepares international expansion in hook-up with Fontem
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 12th July 2017 || Business briefing |
The Austrian e-cigarette company Von Erl has gone into what it describes as a partnership with Imperial Brands subsidiary Fontem Ventures, the makers of blu, in the hope of boosting its international expansion ...
Korean tobacco giant prepares to enter competitive HnB market
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 5th July 2017 || Business briefing |
South Korea’s largest tobacco manufacturer, KT&G, is to start selling a new heat-not-burn (HnB) product, in direct competition with PMI’s iQOS and BAT’s Glo...
Euro survey finds one in 10 who want to quit smoking turn to e-cigs
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 15th June 2017 || Business briefing |
One in ten Europeans who have tried to give up smoking have used e-cigarettes or similar devices to help them, according to a wide-ranging public opinion survey for the European...
Spain begins transposition of TPD into national law by royal decree
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 13th June 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Spain, one of the last few European Union countries to transpose the Tobacco Products Directive into national law, has now partly done so through a royal...
E-cig bans ‘break world trade rules’, Global Forum to be told
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 9th June 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Trade barriers against e-cigarettes, or the outright banning of vapour products, contravene world trading regulations, next week’s Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw will...
Georgia legislates to ban smoking or vaping in public places
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 9th June 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The former Soviet republics of Georgia and its neighbour Armenia are to impose new regulations on...
German U-turn excludes menthol from list of banned ingredients
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 7th June 2017 || Regulatory reports |
Menthol flavouring for e-cigarettes is to be allowed in Germany after all following a decision by the Federal Council that it should be removed from the list of banned...
Health and cost draw French and Spanish vapers away from tobacco
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 30th May 2017 || Business briefing |
Two new surveys suggest that most French and Spanish vapers have used e-cigarettes to give up smoking, for both health and financial reasons – and that very few had continued to smoke after taking up...
Tedros Adhanom handed influential role of WHO director general
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 24th May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been named as the next director general of the World Health Organization, a role with huge influence on governments around the world, and therefore on the potential future of e-cigarette...
New French health minister is a keen advocate of smoking cessation
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 23rd May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
France’s new health minister, Agnès Buzyn, may not be the biggest fan of e-cigarettes, but she may not be their biggest enemy...
A year of living with the TPD – where Europe’s member states stand now
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 19th May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The European Commission described the TPD a year ago as the tool that “aims to improve the functioning of the internal market for tobacco and related products, while ensuring a high level of health protection for European citizens”....
One year on: the picture is clearer as TPD reaches its anniversary
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 18th May 2017 || Regulatory reports |
How far has Europe’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) succeeded in its goal of harmonising the e-cig market across the EU? For many, the jury is still...
Some Japanese quit with e-cigs, but most prefer willpower
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 16th May 2017 || Business briefing |
E-cigarettes are more popular than they are successful as smoking cessation aids in Japan, according to a recent study which suggests they should therefore “not be recommended or...
Hungary abandons plans to increase tax rate for e-liquids
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 16th May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
An expected increase in e-liquid taxes in Hungary will not take...
French e-cig sector optimistic about future under President Macron
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 10th May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French presidential election gives the e-cigarette industry some hope for the future of the sector in the...
French government clarifies extent of workplace vaping ban
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 2nd May 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
A new decree clarifies the details of the workplace vaping ban in...
French quality service guide can establish national code of conduct
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 27th April 2017 || Business briefing |
A new customer service guide for French e-cig retailers sets out to professionalise the country’s vape stores and establish a nationwide code of...
‘Lack of trust leads to needlessly repressive anti-vaping legislation’
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 20th April 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Sociologist Amelia Howard will tell the 2017 Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw that a lack of trust in the e-cigarette industry leads governments around the world to introduce harsh measures against a low-risk...
Choops distances itself from Dali design after legal threat over logo
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 18th April 2017 || Business briefing , Marketing & retailing |
The Californian company behind the e-liquid brand Choops Liquids has changed the logo on its packaging after protests from the owner of the famous Spanish lollipop brand Chupa...
PMI sinks €300m in converting Greek cigarette plant to iQOS sticks
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 12th April 2017 || Business briefing |
Philip Morris International is to convert its largest tobacco factory in Greece to manufacture iQOS heat sticks....
Bid to overturn Austria’s online sales ban fails at the highest hurdle
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 11th April 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
Austria’s Constitutional Court, the country’s highest judicial authority, has upheld the national ban on online sales of vaping...
Estonian legislators consider joining the crusade against vaping flavours
Written by David Palacios Rubio || 11th April 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
A contested amendment to Estonia’s Tobacco Act proposes a ban on all e-liquid flavours except tobacco as well as a prohibition on domestic distance selling of vape...