Regulatory report: South Africa, February 2021

E-cigarette products with nicotine are subject to the pharmaceutical regime in South Africa as nicotine is a scheduled drug under the Medicines and Related Substances Act. It can therefore only be sold by pharmacists and purchased with a doctor’s prescription. However, in practice, e-cigarette products with nicotine are widely available on the black market due to weak law enforcement.

This report offers an overview of the current regulations in place for vaping products in the country, as well as possible near-future regulation should the draft bill be adopted.