Market and legal data for the vaping sector globally

16th January 2024: Global: The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report today on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2030. The report concludes that 2022 has shown a continued decrease in tobacco use rates globally. According to the latest estimates from the WHO, there are 1.25bn adult tobacco users. While the WHO South-East Asian region currently shows the highest population percentage using tobacco (26.5%), the report foresees that, by 2030, the WHO European region will have the highest rates globally (over 23%). The report concludes that it's not possible to calculate global estimates of e-cigarette use among adults or adolescents at the present time due to an insufficient number of countries monitoring use rates.
20th December 2023: Global: Several EU and international markets will see a rise in vapour taxes on 1st January 2024, including Germany, Indonesia, Russia and Estonia. Further information is available in our compliance calendar.
15th December 2023: Global: The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a press release yesterday, 14th December, urging countries to implement strict measures to prevent the uptake of e-cigarettes among their population, especially children. These measures include banning all flavours in e-cigarettes, limiting the concentration and quality of nicotine, and taxing them. The WHO has again discarded the idea that e-cigarettes are an effective tool for quitting tobacco use, alleging instead their possible entry-gate effect on young people, and saying that “kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to use e-cigarettes and may get hooked to nicotine”.
28th November 2023: World: The tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), due to be held this month in Panama and postponed due to the country's “current security situation”, was rescheduled. It will be held from 5th to 10th February 2024.
9th November 2023: World: The tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has been postponed to 2024. COP10 was due to be held this month in Panama, but will now be held there at an undetermined date in 2024, according to FCTC authorities. They attributed the delay to “the current security situation in Panama”.
13th October 2023: Global: International E-waste Day is celebrated tomorrow (14th October). The yearly awareness-raising day initiated by the WEEE Forum, an international association of organisations of electronics manufacturers and importers, aims to highlight the growing issue of e-waste and promote responsible e-waste management. Products with electrical or electronic components, including vaping or heated tobacco devices with batteries, should be part of the recycling stream.
26th September 2023: Global: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released two new publications – “Freedom from tobacco and nicotine: guide for schools” and “Nicotine- and tobacco-free school toolkit” – which entail step-by-step manuals for schools to create nicotine- and tobacco-free campuses. The publications highlight four methods to foster these nicotine- and tobacco-free campuses: banning nicotine and tobacco products on school campuses, prohibiting the sale of nicotine and tobacco products near schools, banning direct and indirect ads and their promotion near schools, and refusing sponsorship or engagement with the tobacco and nicotine industries. The WHO believes that "the tobacco industry relentlessly targets young people with tobacco and nicotine products resulting in e-cigarette use increasing and 9 out of 10 smokers starting before the age of 18".
1st August 2023: Global: The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday released its “report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2023: protect people from tobacco smoke”, which examines progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008. The report also analyses the relationship between emerging tobacco and nicotine products and tobacco control measures, concluding that “with new and emerging threats such as those posed by electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and the ongoing presence of an ever-shifting industry, we still have so much work to do”. The report claims that “the full extent of risk posed by new and emerging products like ENDS and electronic non-nicotine delivery systems (ENNDS) have not yet been quantified and are not fully understood. In the meantime, we must not let the tobacco industry repeat their lies and no credit should be given to their false claims.”
17th July 2023: Global: New reports that will, in accordance with the draft agenda, be discussed during the Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in November 2023 have been uploaded to the WHO FCTC website. A report on the implementation of Articles 9 and 10 of the WHO FCTC (regulation of contents and disclosure of tobacco products) calls on the WHO to "develop standard operating procedures to test smokeless tobacco products", while acknowledging that "work is currently ongoing to develop methods for the contents in liquids for electronic cigarettes, and both contents and emissions in heated tobacco products". Another report on tobacco advertising includes draft guidelines to be adopted by the COP, which would call on the parties to "monitor advances and changes in communications technology, entertainment media consumption and marketing strategies relating to all tobacco products (including novel and emerging tobacco products)".
10th July 2023: Global: The Convention Secretariat of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) has released the provisional agenda for the Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the WHO FCTC, scheduled to take place in Panama in November 2023. The provisional agenda, which needs to be adopted by the COP, includes the discussion of reports presented by the WHO on novel and emerging tobacco products, tobacco advertising in entertainment media and on forward-looking tobacco control measures. The reports that will be discussed will be uploaded over the coming weeks to the WHO FCTC website.
6th June 2023: World: Asked at a global online media briefing about the recent move in Malaysia that has left e-cigarettes unregulated, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries “to do their best to protect their citizens” through vaping regulation. He said: “When the tobacco industry introduced electronic cigarettes, one narrative they tried to really sell is that this is part of harm reduction. It’s not true. It actually is a trap. A trap meaning kids are being recruited at early age to do vaping because they think it’s cool, because it comes in different colours, different flavours and so on. Then they get hooked for life. And most actually move into regular cigarette smoking. That’s why it’s a trap.”

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