LATEST ALERTSUS - Oregon: House Bill 3090 has been introduced, which would ban the sale of flavoured “tobacco products”, including e-cigarettes, containing either natural or synthetic nicotine.
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Indonesia: The Directorate General of Customs and Excise has revealed how much revenue was collected from e-cigarette and heated tobacco excise duty in 2022, press reports. A total of IDR1.02tn ($68m) included IDR627.11bn ($42m) from open-system e-cigarettes, IDR119.47bn ($8m) from closed-system e-cigarettes, and IDR271.93bn ($18m) from heated tobacco products. The total revenue collected from tobacco and related products was IDR218.62tn ($14.57bn), of which e-cigs and heated tobacco accounted for just 0.4%.
UK - Scotland: The Scottish government has commissioned an urgent evidence review on the environmental impact of disposable e-cigarettes, which could lead to a ban. Other approaches to be considered may include increasing access to responsible disposal options, improved product design, or public communications campaigns. Circular economy minister Lorna Slater said: “Not only are single-use vapes bad for public health, they are also bad for the environment.” The review will influence the new tobacco action plan, which is due in the autumn.
Lithuania: The Consumer Rights Protection Service has imposed fines of €1,600 and €750 on two e-cigarette distributors for failing to specify all the chemical substances contained in their e-cig products.
UK - Scotland: Yesterday (19th January) the health secretary, Humza Yousaf, said that the government is reviewing the evidence on e-cigarettes that will influence the tobacco action plan, which is due in autumn. He expressed his concern over under-age vapers, online advertising and the environmental impact of e-cigarettes. “Stakeholders with the relevant expertise should explore and examine a range of issues in relation to vaping, including a potential ban on disposable single-use vapes,” Yousaf said.
Bulgaria: Members of We Continue the Change, a centrist party with the second most seats in Parliament, have presented a bill to amend the Law on Tobacco and Tobacco Products. Among the measures proposed are an expansion of the prohibition of marketing and advertising, including the obligation of health warnings on advertisements. The bill would affect e-cigarette products.
Spain: E-cigarette consumption is on the rise. According to the results of the Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs, which is conducted by the Ministry of Health every two years, 12.1% of people between the ages of 15 and 64 have used e-cigarettes at least once. This percentage was 10.5% in 2020 and has nearly doubled since 2015, when it was 6.8%. E-cigarettes are most used among 15- to 24-year-olds.
Egypt: A bill presented by representative Mohamed Emara – secretary of the Youth and Sports Committee – will be discussed by the Senate health committee on Sunday, 22nd January. Among the provisions of the bill are expanding usage restrictions on e-cigarettes and banning vaping in universities and schools in order to curb their widespread use by youth, press reports.
Iraq: The public prosecutor of the Duhok Governorate in Kurdistan banned the use, sale and circulation of e-cigarettes, press reports. As a consequence of the decision, Farhad Ismail, director of the Prevention Department at the Duhok Health Directorate, reported to the press that these products spread at an alarming rate among youth, and that the ban came after long discussions about their adverse effects in the region.
US - Vermont: The state Senate has introduced bill S 18, which would prohibit the sale of flavoured tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and menthol tobacco products. The bill would also direct the office of the attorney general to report on the extent to which Vermont may legally restrict advertising and regulate labels for e-cigarettes and other vaping-related products.
20th January 2023 - North America, United States |
US - General: The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has granted Triton Distribution’s petition for a rehearing of its appeal of the FDA’s marketing denial orders (MDOs), according to a court order. The original Fifth Circuit three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in July 2022 to deny Triton’s appeal.
UK: Two retailers in South Gloucestershire have been fined for selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes. Prosecution started last year when Trading Standards officers found and seized products with up to seven times the 2 ml legal limit of nicotine-containing e-liquid in one of the stores. The combined total of fines, costs and surcharges comes to £10,786.
Germany: The German Medical Association has called on the federal government to expand the planned ban of heated tobacco flavour to e-cigarettes. This comes after the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) published a draft of the third amendment to the Tobacco Products Law, which will transpose the flavour ban for heated tobacco products imposed by EU Directive 2022/2100. According to the association, the aim is to make e-cigarettes less attractive to young people and other non-smokers and smokers. The draft has not yet been sent to Parliament.
19th January 2023 - Europe, United Kingdom |
UK: More than 60% of Trading Standards officers say their biggest worry is shops selling illicit e-cigarettes or selling vaping products to children, according to research by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI). The CTSI says there has been a surge in illegal sales of e-cigs by specialist vape shops, convenience stores and corner shops over the past year, with more than 1.4 tonnes of illegal vapes seized in the last six months of 2022 in the northeast of England alone.
US - New York: Senate Bill S2133 has been introduced. It would ban the sale of e-cigarettes that contain certain toxic metals, and require the state Department of Health to study the long-term health effects of vaping.
Italy: Health minister Orazio Schillaci told a meeting of the Chamber of Deputies Social Affairs Committee that he intends to update the anti-smoking law by extending the smoking ban to public places frequented by children and pregnant women, eliminating smoking rooms in public places, and equating vaping with smoking. A bill to that effect may be introduced in Parliament soon.
18th January 2023 - Europe, United Kingdom |
UK: Asked about the implementation of further tobacco harm reduction strategies, junior health minister Neil O’Brien said yesterday the government currently had no such plans.
Russia: Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the State Duma, parliament’s lower chamber, today reportedly instructed the relevant committees to study the possibility of a total ban on e-cigarettes and to put forward proposals on the issue. Meanwhile, the Duma fully adopted the government’s plan to scrap the tax on e-cigarette devices while raising the excise tax on e-liquids from RUB18 (€0.24) per ml to RUB20 (€0.27) per ml on 1st March, with further rises in 2024 and 2025. The proposal still has to pass the upper chamber and the Federation Council, and be signed by president Vladimir Putin.
US - Hawaii: Senate Bill 148 has been introduced, which would prohibit the sale or furnishing of a tobacco product or e-cigarette to anyone born on or after 1st January 2003.
18th January 2023 - Australasia, Australia |
Australia: The Australian Heart Foundation has called for an import ban on e-cigarettes. In a submission to a public consultation by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the foundation said that e-cigarettes, with or without nicotine, should be declared “prohibited imports”. It also said the TGA should ban all e-liquid flavours other than tobacco, reduce the nicotine concentration, and establish labelling and packaging requirements.
18th January 2023 - Asia, 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).
18th January 2023 - Africa, South Africa |
South Africa: The National Treasury has put into effect the Taxation Laws Amendment Act, introducing a flat excise duty rate of ZAR2.90 ($0.17) per ml for both nicotine and non-nicotine vaping products. The tax will come into force on 1st June.
17th January 2023 - Canada, North America |
Canada: In a statement on National Non-Smoking Week, health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said quitting can be achieved by combining supports and tools, such as a quit coach or using approved nicotine replacement therapies such as gums, patches and lozenges, medication, or other less harmful sources of nicotine. He also said evidence suggests that while e-cigarettes are not harmless, vaping exposes smokers to lower levels of harmful chemicals than continuing to smoke.
17th January 2023 - Europe, United Kingdom |
UK: In answer to a parliamentary question, junior environment minister Rebecca Pow said the government had no information on the value of payments made by e-cigarette importers and manufacturers each year to finance the cost of collection and treatment of disposed-of products. “Such matters would be determined by the contractual arrangements between individual obligated businesses and the Producer Compliance Scheme, approved under the regulations, to which they belong to discharge their obligations," Pow told shadow environment minister Ruth Jones.
US - Montana: Bill LC 1075, which would generally revise alternative nicotine and vapour product laws relating to tobacco, is currently being drafted.
17th January 2023 - Europe, United Kingdom |
UK: In answer to a parliamentary question about when the new tobacco control plan and a response to the Khan review would be published, junior health minister Neil O’Brien said Khan’s recommendations were being considered and that further information would be available “in due course”. In the past few months, no official has denied reports that the new plan may not get published under the current government or said when it would be published. This suggests no changes to the alternative tobacco products regime can be expected within the next few years.
17th January 2023 - Paraguay, South America |
Paraguay: Opposition senator Pedro Santa Cruz has written to president Mario Abdo Benítez urging him to increase the tax on e-liquids from 20% to 22% of the wholesale price, with proceeds to go to the National Cancer Institute (Incan).
Russia: The State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes has backed the government’s tax amendments, media reports. If they are finally adopted, excise tax on e-cigarette devices will reportedly be scrapped, while the tax on e-liquids will rise on 1st March from RUB18 (€0.24) to RUB20 (€0.27) per ml, with further increases in 2024 and 2025.
Belgium: The Ministry of Health enacted a Royal Decree amending the Royal Decree of 28th October 2016 relating to the manufacture and placing on the market of electronic cigarettes. The new decree equates nicotine-free vapour products with nicotine-containing ones, especially in terms of product restrictions, notification, and labelling and packaging. It also increases notification fees to €200, and introduces a fee of €100 for every substantial modification and a fee of €50 for the market data notification. The new decree will enter into force on 11th July 2023.
US - Indiana: House Bill 1133 has been introduced. This bill would prohibit the sale of flavoured tobacco products and their components, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco; and tobacco products that have a characterising flavour.
US - New Mexico: House Bill 94 has been introduced. This bill would prohibit the sale of flavoured tobacco products. The definition of tobacco products would include nicotine-containing products, and e-cigarettes specifically.
US - New York: Many new bills have been introduced, including: Bill S 516 (prohibits the sale or provision of any quantity of e-liquid used to refill an e-cigarette or cartridge), Bill A 83 (prohibits the sale or distribution of e-cigarettes lacking a federal Food and Drug Administration premarket order of approval), Bill A 187 (relates to requiring a valid prescription in order to purchase, obtain or use an e-cigarette), and Bill A 143 (requires e-cigarettes and e-liquids to have nicotine levels which automatically taper off).
Morocco: The Party of Progress and Socialism proposal to amend Law No. 15.91/1995 was referred to the Justice, Legislation and Human Rights Committee of the parliament for further discussion on Friday (13th January). The bill – which proposes the implementation of a ban on using tobacco in public areas and lays down restrictions on the marketing and advertising of all tobacco products – defines tobacco products as any product made entirely or partly from tobacco, including hookahs, heated tobacco, and electronic cigarettes.
16th January 2023 - Europe, United Kingdom |
UK: When asked about what steps the department is taking to control the online sale of e-cigarettes, junior secretary for business, energy and industrial strategy, Kevin Hollinrake, said that e-commerce has brought new challenges to product safety in general – which is highlighted in the Call for Evidence of the Product Safety Review. Hollinrake added that a consultation, including proposals to tackle the sale of unsafe products online, is being finalised for publication.
16th January 2023 - Australasia, Australia |
Australia: The consultation period for the regulation of nicotine vaping products ends today, 16th January. This consultation period was organised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in order to gather proposals on the regulation of nicotine vaping products in Australia and to implement new policies aimed at preventing children and adolescents from accessing these products.
16th January 2023 - Australasia, Australia |
Australia: The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is urging the government to toughen vaping regulation. The president of the AMA said that "Vaping is not harmless, it is not safe, it is not part of tobacco control". In a proposal sent to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) consultation on vaping products, the AMA said that nicotine products should all be registered with the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and the nicotine concentration limited. It also said that non-nicotine vaping products, which are currently unregulated at federal level, should be regulated similarly to nicotine-containing ones.
16th January 2023 - Europe |
EU: As highlighted in our compliance calendar, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) “Call to achieve a tobacco-free environment and the first European tobacco-free generation by 2030” is starting to collect signatures as of today, 16th January 2023. It seeks to end the sale of nicotine products to people born after 2010, to extend outdoor smoking-free and vape-free spaces, and to eliminate tobacco advertising and social media presence. The ECI needs to collect a total of 1m signatures in seven different member states in one year before the European Commission considers proposing any related legislation.
16th January 2023 - Mexico, North America |
Mexico: The amendment to the regulation of the General Tobacco Control Act entered into force yesterday, 15th January. The regulation prohibits vaping in all public and crowded places, such as beaches, streets or parks. It does, however, establish the possibility of creating smoking and vaping areas.
16th January 2023 - Asia, Philippines |
Philippines: Following seizures of smuggled and untaxed products, the Bureau of International Revenue (BIR) has called on all distributors and sellers of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and novel tobacco products to comply with the business registration requirements and tax obligations specified in BIR Revenue Regulations 14-2022 and DTI Department Administrative Order 22-16. Among the requirements is the obligation for sellers and distributors of products via e-commerce and internet websites to be registered with the competent authorities.
Germany: The Bavarian state government approved a Federal Council initiative to call for a campaign at EU level to ban disposable e-cigarettes. The reason for the ban is the electronic waste that is disposed of with residual waste. The initiative intends to call on the federal government to lobby at EU level for an amendment to the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive with a subsequent ban in the Single-Use Plastic Ban Ordinance.
13th January 2023 - Mexico, North America |
Mexico: Senator Ernesto Pérez Astorga, from the ruling Morena party, has proposed regulating e-cigarettes in order to ban their sale to under-18s, press reports. This comes after several regulations introduced by the president, which would have completely banned the sale of these products, were deemed unconstitutional. The Senate representative also announced that a display ban will enter into force on 15th January.
US - New York: Bill A 86 has been introduced. This bill would increase the tax imposed on the sale of certain tobacco products from 75% to 129% and increase the tax imposed on the retail sale of vapour products from 20% to 48%.
Germany: Customs authorities in the city of Krefeld (close to the French border) have announced the seizure of hundreds of vaping products that lacked the tobacco tax marks and for which excise taxes had not been paid. In addition, tens of thousands of disposable products were seized for non-compliance with the EU Tobacco Products Directive requirements – namely for not respecting the 2 ml tank size limit and health warning requirements – on top of unpaid taxes. An investigation is still ongoing.
Taiwan: Yesterday, 12th January, the Legislative Yuan adopted the amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act banning e-cigarettes. Until now, a statutory ban existed only for nicotine e-liquids, but with the latest changes all e-liquids regardless of nicotine content will be prohibited.
Russia (Saint Petersburg): Saint Petersburg deputies shared their opinion on a possible complete ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes after the death of a schoolboy due to poisoning with an unidentified toxic substance, allegedly an e-liquid, media reports. Saint Petersburg is the second-largest city in Russia with a population of 5.4m, governed as a federal city.
US - Virginia: House Bill 2296 and Senate Bill 1350 have been introduced. Both bills would impose a tax on liquid nicotine in closed systems at a rate of $0.066 per ml, and on liquid nicotine in open systems at a rate of 20% of the wholesale price.
US - Connecticut: House Bill 5831 has been introduced. This bill would prohibit the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems and vapour products that are flavoured or have a nicotine content greater than 35 mg/ml.
Hungary: Following an investigation, which we reported on last year, into two Slovak companies selling Elf Bars online, the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH) has fined one of them HUF68.1m (€172,000) for online advertising, online e-cigarette sales and for selling flavoured e-cigarettes, all of which remain prohibited in Hungary. The authority "assessed as an aggravating circumstance that the practice targeted vulnerable groups, such as young people and minors, that the company violated clear sector regulatory prohibitions, and that the products could cause serious health risks".
Ukraine: Yesterday, 12th January, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) adopted Bill 8286 on the introduction of an electronic excise stamp for tobacco products and e-liquids in the first reading. The adoption of the bill is necessary to ensure the traceability of the circulation of such products. If fully adopted, it would be applicable as of 1st January 2024. Parliament also adopted in the first reading the related Bill 8287 on corresponding amendments to the Tax Code and other laws.
US - Connecticut: Senate Bill 40 has been introduced, which would ban smoking and vaping at state beaches and parks and allow municipalities to place restrictions on smoking and vaping at municipal parks and other outdoor venues.
