E-cigarettes worldwide

Egypt: The Ministry of Finance has issued a decree setting out a new process for paying the health insurance tax on tobacco products. Decree No. (369) of 2022, published in the Official Gazette, requires the tax to be paid to the state’s public treasury, through Central Bank of Egypt account 2/70/30301/2, instead of the Health Insurance Authority. E-liquids are taxed in Egypt are taxed at a rate of EGP2 ($0.11) per ml plus 10% of the price.

Colombia: Julián Peinado of the Colombian Liberal Party will next week introduce in the Chamber of Representatives a bill to regulate e-cigarettes, equating them with tobacco products, press reports. If approved, the bill will ban sales to minors and introduce packaging and labelling restrictions, including a mandatory health warning, and ban sponsorship of sporting and cultural events. The Colombian Liberal Party is currently the largest party in the Chamber of Representatives, with 32 seats out of 188.

Philippines: The Bureau of Internal Revenue has published the full text of Republic Act 11900, which will regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution and use of vaping products. The act will come into force 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two general circulation newspapers, which to the best of our knowledge has not yet happened.

New Zealand: From tomorrow, 11th August, all retailers of vaping products must ensure the products they are selling conform to the new packaging regulations. This includes both general retailers and specialist vape stores. Among the rules are new health warnings and newly prohibited features on packaging.

Russia: The Ministry of Industry and Trade has published a draft decree which would make the digital traceability marking of e-cigarettes and e-liquids mandatory ahead of schedule from 1st November. Under the currently operative government decree, the voluntary experiment with traceability marking should last until 28th February 2023.

Uzbekistan: Parliament was today considering the Conciliation Commission’s views on a bill to restrict the distribution and consumption of alcohol and tobacco products, media reports. The Senate rejected the bill in June, calling for clarification and amendments, after it was approved by the lower house, the Legislative Chamber, at the end of 2021. The bill aims to amend current tobacco legislation to cover novel products and to ban sales to under-21s.

Saudi Arabia: The Riyadh Municipality has tweeted about “the most prominent violations” by hospitality premises serving “tobacco products”, which include e-cigarettes. They include offering tobacco products without a permit, failure to disclose monthly sales, failure to specify a “tobacco product serving fee” and adding it as a separate item on the customer’s invoice. The authoritiy points out that all these violations are subject to the penalties stipulated in the 2019 Anti-Smoking Law.

Australia: More than 15,000 nicotine-containing e-cigarettes have been seized in Western Australia in an operation analysing the content of e-cigarettes that were claimed not to contain nicotine. The state authorities have put more than 3,000 retailers on notice, advising them that the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes other than by a pharmacy and without a medical prescription is banned.

Canada - Nova Scotia: The Finance and Treasury Board has told ECigIntelligence that the federal excise duty on vapour products, due to come into force on 1st October, will not replace the provincial Vaping Products Tax.

Malaysia: The Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Electronic Cigarette Device) Order 2022 comes into effect today. It requires manufacturers and importers of e-cigarette devices and components to apply for a certificate to the inspection and testing body SIRIM QAS International before placing them on the market. E-cigs that comply with the Malaysian Standard on Electronic Cigarette Devices will be marked as such.