E-cigarettes in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates (UAE): The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology has told ECigIntelligence that a new fee is now being charged to issue the conformity certificates for regulated products. The fee is AED670 ($182) for the certificate and AED620 ($169) for the technical review of documents. It now takes one and a half working days to resolve an application instead of three, and applications are submitted per model type or per stock keeping unit (SKU).

Gulf Cooperation Council: The Gulf Health Council has launched a week-long online campaign under the slogan “#companionship_without_vaping” to combat the use of e-cigarettes, particularly by young people, press reports.

United Arab Emirates: The Public Prosecution authority has published a warning on Instagram that the sale, distribution and promotion of tobacco products to under-18s is prohibited. Under the Electronic Nicotine Products standard, e-cigarettes are treated like traditional tobacco, so selling them to minors can lead to at least three months’ jail and a fine of no less than AED15,000 ($4,000) under Federal Law No. 03/2016 on child rights and Federal Law No. 15/2009 on tobacco control.