E-cig sales rules to be relaxed

Electronic cigarettes and e-liquids containing nicotine will soon be available legally in Belgium wherever tobacco products are on sale and from dedicated vape shops, according to a story by Frank Baeyens published on the Nicotine Science and Policy website.

Current legislation permits only the sale, through pharmacies, of medically licensed nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes, though the ban on non-licensed products has not been strictly enforced.

About 20 vape shops in Belgium have been selling nicotine-containing electronic cigarettes and internet orders from other countries within Europe have seldom met with customs seizures or other difficulties.

The ending of the ban, however, is seen as important because it will allow electronic cigarettes to compete directly with tobacco cigarettes.

Belgium’s Federal Minister of Health, Maggie De Block, announced on January 26  the completion of a royal decree regulating electronic cigarettes in Belgium, but the decree has not been signed and published yet; so Baeyens describes his story as being based on media reports and of a preliminary nature.

Baeyens said, however, that the fear among vapers that Belgium would require all electronic cigarettes to be regulated as medicines had proved to be groundless.

And he said that the additive bans and restrictions that will apply to tobacco cigarettes under the new EU Tobacco Products Directive will not apply to electronic cigarettes.

Nor will excise taxes be levied on electronic cigarettes, but sales of these products will be subject to the same age restrictions as apply to tobacco cigarettes, which means no sales to those less than 16 years of age.

The full story is at: https://nicotinepolicy.net/frank-baeyens/5639-regulatory-framework-for-electronic-cigarettes-in-belgium-vapers-and-tobacco-harm-reduction-activists-between-hope-and-despair.