Regulatory report: Venezuela, November 2021

Venezuela has taken a major step in deciding to regulate the sale of electronic cigarettes, implementing regulation covering many important aspects of their sale, advertising and public use.

It is uncertain what direction the government will take in the coming months, since it seldom discloses information about its legislative plans. However, the preamble to Resolution No.025 mentions the risks posed by e-cigarettes and speaks of the state’s need to grant protection against products that can be regarded as harmful or dangerous, which might suggest an attitude antagonistic to vaping.

We expect the government to adopt more restrictive regulations in the future, although we do not know when that is likely to be. We expect it to reject a harm reduction approach and instead focus its efforts on the protection of e-cigarette users by adopting more tobacco-like regulations. So far, however, the approach has been lenient and guided by the products’ harm profile. Some aspects that are not covered by the current regulation – such as product restrictions and notification procedures – will probably be introduced in the future.