Category: Regulation

Common market planned
The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union might agree on a common market for tobacco and alcohol products by the end of this year, according to a Belarusian Telegraph Agency story quoting the Member of the Board (Minister) for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Tatyana Valovaya.
Valovaya was speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Monday.
“We believe that we will be able to agree on tobacco and alcohol soon,” she was quoted as saying.
“I think this year we might take certain decisions that will make business operations easier.”
No details were given.
January 30, 2019
Nicotine poses little risk
A report from the Australian Poisons Centres has confirmed that accidental ingestion of nicotine e-liquid is extremely rare and is usually mild and self-limiting, according to the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA).
In a note posted on its website, ATHRA said the findings supported the case for legalising and regulating nicotine for vaping as a safer alternative to smoking.
The study in the Medical Journal of Australia yesterday reported on 202 calls to Australian Poisons Centres for e-cigarette and e-liquid exposure over an eight-year period from 2009 to 2016. Calls were said to have increased as vaping became more popular, but still represented only 0.015 percent of all calls received – fewer than one in five thousand calls.
Thirty eight percent of the calls were for children, and there were 12 cases of deliberate self-administration by adults for self-harm.
Most subjects had only mild symptoms. Twelve had moderate symptoms, usually vomiting and sedation. There were no serious reactions or deaths reported.
ATHRA said the Australian findings were similar to Poisons Centre reports from the US and Europe, which also found that accidental exposure to nicotine e-liquid was usually mild and short lived.
‘Although nicotine is potentially toxic, serious reactions from accidental ingestion are rare and most cases make a full and quick recovery,’ the ATHRA note said. ‘Most swallowed nicotine is not absorbed into the bloodstream and much of the remainder is broken down rapidly in the liver.
‘Suicide attempts with even very large doses usually result in prompt vomiting. Thankfully there is usually a full recovery but very rare fatalities have occurred in adults and children.
‘Nicotine poses no risk to vapers if used in the standard doses as intended.’
January 29, 2019
Malawi looks to cannabis
Malawi’s legislators will consider in March a bill to legalize medical cannabis and hemp, as the country looks to reduce its reliance on tobacco, according to a VOA News story relayed by the TMA.
Tobacco was said to account for 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 60 percent of its foreign exchange earnings.
Lesotho, South Africa, and Zimbabwe have already adopted similar measures.
Boniface Kadzamira, a member of Malawi’s parliament who has long pushed for the legalization of cannabis said, “we were the first in this part of Africa to start discussing this thing”. “Those countries that came after us have gone ahead of us and have already started issuing licenses,” he added.
According to the VOA story, anti-drug campaigners worry legalizing medical marijuana will encourage more recreational use but they’re facing an uphill battle against those who argue to regulate the trade and help Malawi’s economy grow.
January 29, 2019
Wings on, wings off
All China’s domestic airlines have been ordered to prohibit immediately smoking and vaping in cockpits, and to punish severely crew members who violate the ban, according to a China Daily story citing a notice issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The CAAC has ordered airlines to suspend crew members who smoke or vape in cockpits for 12 months for a first offense and for 36 months for repeat offenses. Other crew members who fail to intervene when a member of a cockpit crew is smoking [or, presumably, vaping] were said to be liable to a six-months’ suspension.
The CAA said that if smoking [and vaping] on a plane resulted in serious consequences, the penalty would be more severe and would be recorded in crew members’ files.
Smoking was banned in the passenger cabin and toilets of all aircraft in October 2017, but individual airlines had the option to permit smoking in the cockpit for two years. The recent cockpit ban accelerates the original time frame.
Originally, the rules would not have taken effect until the end of this year, said Zhang Qihuai, a Beijing lawyer specializing in civil aviation. But only Chongqing Airlines and China West Air had implemented the cockpit ban.
In July, news reports said that an Air China co-pilot who was vaping during a flight from Hong Kong to Dalian, Liaoning province, wanted to turn off the air circulation fan. But he switched off the aircraft’s air conditioning by accident, which diffused smoke [presumably vapor] throughout the cabin and led to the deployment of oxygen masks and an emergency descent.
The aircraft climbed to its cruising altitude and the flight continued once the problem was identified.
There were 153 passengers and nine crew onboard. No injuries were reported.
Zhang said he believed this incident triggered the early enforcement of the regulation.
“If heavy smokers among the passengers can forgo their habit during flights, there is no reason to make the crew an exception, especially since they are responsible for the safety of all on board,” Zhang said.
January 28, 2019
Jail is no answer
A woman has been sentenced to one month in prison by a magistrate’s court in Kota Baru for smoking outside a supermarket two years ago, according to a story in The New Straits Times.
Magistrate Izzudin Mohd Shukri handed down the sentence after Nor Faezah Hamzah, 34, failed to pay a RM1,000 fine imposed on her earlier.
She was charged under a regulation that provides for a fine of up to RM10,000 and or a jail term of up to two years.
An assistant health and environment officer and an assistant public health officer were said to have seen the woman smoking a cigarette at the supermarket’s parking lot. They took the cigarette from her and sent it to the state Chemistry Department where it was analyzed and found to contain tobacco.
The accused, who was unrepresented in court, asked that her term of imprisonment start from the date she was arrested. “I request for a lighter sentence as I have to take care of my 16-year-old child,” she said.
However, prosecution officer Mohd Nor Hussin, from the state Health Department, requested a stiffer penalty to deter the accused and members of the public from committing the same offence.
January 28, 2019
A question of customs
A Bulgarian member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission whether using an external company for loading and unloading excisable goods for the purpose of making customs checks constituted a breach of its regulations.
In a preamble to two questions that are due to be answered by the Commission in writing, Angel Dzhambazki said that, in Bulgaria, it was the practise for Customs Agency staff to be present at the loading and unloading of excisable goods, following which a report was filled out. ‘However, most consignments of freight are subject to a follow-up check at the customs control points located at border crossings,’ he said.
‘Under Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code, responsibility for the follow-up check and for loading/unloading lies with the Customs Agency, but at the Kalotina customs control point the Bulgarian authorities refuse to carry out this work, thus obliging carriers to hire an external company to do it.’
Dzhambazki then asked:
1. ‘Is the Commission aware of this problem?
2. ‘Does the Commission consider that using an external company for loading/unloading for the purposes of customs checks constitutes a breach of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013?’
January 24, 2019
A question of air quality
A French member of the EU Parliament has asked the Commission what it is doing to improve indoor air quality.
In a preamble to her question, Nadine Morano said the EU and its member states were taking a number of measures to fight air pollution outdoors.
‘Indoor pollution, however, is addressed much less frequently, even though some Europeans spend as much as 90 percent of their time indoors,’ she said.
‘What is more, concentration levels of some air pollutants are sometimes found to be higher inside than in the open air.’
Morano then asked: ‘In this context, what is the Commission doing to improve indoor air quality?’
The Commission is due to answer the question in writing.
January 22, 2019
Bungling at best
Queensland Health has been misinforming people that avenues allowing them to vape legally with nicotine in Australia are not open to them in Queensland, according to a report by the Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association (ATHRA).
The report helpfully explains some of the laws governing vaping in Australia, which can seem opaque.
‘Although there are ways to legally vape with nicotine in Australia, Queensland Health has been telling smokers that they do not apply in Queensland,’ the ATHRA said. ‘This behaviour is bungling at best, or dishonest at worst.
‘Whatever their beliefs, governments have a responsibility to ensure accurate information is provided to consumers. Queensland Health’s opposition to vaping is no justification for deceiving the public to further its agenda.
‘Some Australian pharmacies can prepare nicotine liquid for vaping for a smoker who has a nicotine prescription and wants to quit. This is known as “compounding” and is legal in all states and territories under Commonwealth law (Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990) …’
Queensland Health is said also to have misled the public for several years about importing nicotine from overseas.
‘Under the Therapeutic Goods Administration Personal Importation Scheme, smokers in all states can import nicotine legally to help them quit smoking if they have a doctor’s prescription,’ the ATHRA said.
January 21, 2019
EU and WHO at loggerheads
A French member of the EU Parliament has said that the Commission’s tobacco-products tracking-and-tracing acts do not take into account the entry into force of the World Health Organization’s ‘Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products’.
In a preamble to two written questions posed to the Commission, Michèle Rivasi said that parallel trade in tobacco resulted in increased smoking, particularly among adolescents, who were more sensitive to prices, and an annual tax loss for EU member states estimated at between €15 billion and €20 billion.
‘The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the best way to put an end to this phenomenon is to apply its Protocol “to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products,” which was drawn up in 2012 and entered into force on 25 September 2018,’ she wrote.
‘To date, there are 48 parties to this international treaty, including the European Union, which ratified the WHO Protocol on 24 June 2016, following the vote of the European Parliament on 9 June 2016.
‘Article 8 of the Protocol requires, in particular, that a tracking and tracing system be set up for tobacco products which is strictly independent of tobacco manufacturers, who are suspected of fuelling parallel trade.
‘At the beginning of 2018, the implementing and delegated acts on the traceability of tobacco products adopted by the European Commission entrusted several essential traceability-related tasks to cigarette manufacturers themselves.’
Rivasi then asked:
1. ‘Why do the Commission’s acts not take into account the entry into force of the WHO Protocol?
2. When will the Commission revise them?’
January 21, 2019
Tobacco use going up
Tobacco use in Iran has increased by seven times during the past decade, growing from 2,000 tons to 15,000 tons [presumably per year], according to a story in The Tehran Times quoting the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and the vice chancellor for social affairs at Tehran University of Medical Science.
“It is necessary to devise plans to prevent and control the widespread usage of tobacco in the country,” Abdolrahman Rostamian reportedly said on Tuesday.
The vice chancellor said that, in many countries, high taxes were levied on cigarettes to control tobacco use, and that the same policy should be adopted in Iran.
“Currently, tobacco tax revenue for the next Iranian calendar year [starting March 21] is estimated at 28 trillion rials (about US$666 million) but it should grow to 150 trillion rials (US$3.5 billion),” Rostamian said.
“In most countries, tobacco duty rate is up to 75 percent, but in Iran it is only 20 percent. This is among the issues that the members of Iranian Parliament should pay special attention to.
“Currently, there are 16 tobacco factories in the country and up to 100 trillion rials (US$2.3 billion) are annually spent for purchasing cigarettes. To make … matters worse, 35 trillion rials are annually spent for treatment of the diseases that are caused by smoking.”
According to Rostamian, 90 percent of cancers are caused by smoking cigarettes. Smoking accounted also for 25 percent of heart failures that resulted in death and was a risk factor in osteoporosis and bone fracture, he said.
“It is more than necessary to reduce the supply of cigarettes in the country,” he was quoted as saying. “We should come up with policies to ensure that people under 18 are banned from purchasing cigarettes. Besides, only the suppliers who have a special license must be allowed to sell cigarettes.”
January 17, 2019