Category: Regulation

Thailand reviewing ban
A review of Thailand’s ban on electronic cigarettes is being launched in light of difficulties in enforcing the law, according to a by Eleven story citing The Nation.
A working panel led by the Commerce Ministry has assigned the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Centre (TRC) to conduct the review.
The panel was set up late last year to reconcile conflicting opinions about the ban and how to enforce it, said its chair, Keerati Rushchano, deputy director-general of the Department of Foreign Trade.
Thailand had banned the import, sale and servicing of e-cigarettes in 2014, but since then the authorities had encountered problems with law enforcement, Keerati said.
For instance, the tourism authority had raised concerns that foreign tourists were complaining they had not heard about the ban before arriving in the country.
In addition, while the law banned the import and sale of the devices there was no specific prohibition against using them, a situation that had caused confusion among law enforcers.
The TRC is expected to take about six months to complete its review.
January 17, 2019
E-cig regulation sought
The Philippines Department of Health yesterday reiterated its call for the regulation of electronic cigarettes, saying these devices ‘are not a healthy alternative to tobacco,’ according to a GMA News story.
The health undersecretary Eric Domingo made the call as the government was pushing for a law imposing higher excise taxes on tobacco products.
“Some people are trying to package it as a healthy alternative to tobacco or as lower risk product compared to tobacco,” Domingo was quoted as having said during a news conference.
“Vape are nicotine-containing and they are addicting.
“We do not advocate the use of vaping and we want to strictly regulate it.”
E-cigarette and vaping regulations would need legislation, but relevant bills currently remain pending in Congress.
Domingo proposed that vaping devices should be registered and checked for safety.
And the World Health Organization country representative, Dr. Gundo Weiler, earlier said that WHO supported the regulation of vaping.
Domingo said it was not known how many vape stores had opened in the country.
January 17, 2019
Legal since it’s not illegal
Malaysia’s Health Minister seems to have confirmed by default that the use of electronic cigarettes not containing nicotine is permitted in public places where tobacco smoking is banned.
According to a story in The Star, the minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, had said that e-cigarettes that contained nicotine or tobacco [presumably heat-not-burn devices] could not be used in no-smoking zones.
But the Star was looking for an answer to the question of whether vaping devices without nicotine could be used in no-smoking zones.
The answer it received was, by default, yes. “If there is no nicotine in vapes, then the issue is whether it is tobacco based,” said Dzulkefly. “If it is tobacco based, then it is still not allowed. It is as simple as that.”
In October last year, deputy health minister Dr. Lee Boon Chye said the ban against tobacco smoking in public places and eateries would not be extended to vaping.
He said that under the current laws, the authorities could act on vape products only if they contained nicotine.
In the meantime, Dzulkefly said he was open to a suggestion by the chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, that the smoking ban should be extended to offices and enclosed areas such as toilets.
“We are willing to consider and always reassess and review, especially public places,” Dzulkefly said. “I will listen to the public on all suggestions and complaints.”
From the beginning of this year, tobacco smoking has been banned in all eateries.
January 15, 2019
Licensing tobacco firms
Tobacco companies in Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be required shortly to pay a license fee to operate in the country, according to a story in The Post-Courier quoting the Health Minister Sir Puka Temu.
Speaking yesterday, Sir Puka said a law had been passed to that effect and the grace period had lapsed.
The Tobacco Act was passed by Parliament in 2016 and certified by the Speaker in 2017 to become effective immediately.
However, in April 2017, the National Executive Council (NEC) introduced a grace period to give manufacturers and importers time to make the transition to the new legislation.
“I want to make it clear,” Sir Puka said, “that the Act is mandatory for all importers, manufacturers, and other businesses that deal with the tobacco products in PNG.
“Sufficient time has been allowed for all operators to make the necessary adjustment.”
Sir Puka said the purpose of the legislation was to control the manufacture, distribution, sale and use of tobacco and tobacco products, and that it would now be enforced because of the harmful effects of tobacco on people.
However, the new law cannot be enforced immediately because the license fees have not been set; though Sir Puka said that his department was in the final stages of setting the fees.
January 14, 2019
Shisha ban unofficial
The Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance has called on the Health Ministry to make a ban on shisha smoking official, according to a story in The Star.
The Alliance’s chairperson Joel Gitali said yesterday that the ministry had limited time to follow due process and make the ban official.
The ban was reportedly imposed on December 28, 2017, by the-then Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu who claimed shisha use had encouraged the peddling of hard drugs.
But, according to Gitali, traders and manufacturers went to court to challenge the ban and, while the court on July 27, 2018, upheld the ban, it noted that the Ministry had not followed the correct procedure.
The court gave the Ministry nine months to follow the correct procedure, but so far it has not done so, and the nine-month period is due to expire in April.
“The ministry is supposed to do a public participation and come up with a law on the ban within the stipulated time to make it official,” Gitali said.
“Should the nine months elapse, someone can challenge the ban and the court can reverse it.”
The upshot of this is that, reportedly, and despite the ban, smokers are still using shisha behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, Gitali called on the Ministry to constitute a working Tobacco Control Board, adding that failure to have one would go against the spirit of the tobacco control Act 2007.
“We reckon that these unnecessary delays in constituting the board and operationalizing of the tobacco control fund are not only retrogressive but also frustrating the tobacco control fraternity,” Gitali said.
January 14, 2019
Smoking ban sought
Tobacco-control advocates have called for an outright ban on smoking throughout China’s railway network, according to a Xinhua news agency story quoting the China Daily.
The call for a ban came after air-quality inspections reportedly found ‘dangerous levels of harmful pollutants’ on slow trains, most of which currently allow tobacco use in designated areas.
Researchers led by the Chinese Association of Tobacco Control examined four slow trains in October. Three of the trains had designated smoking areas, while one had banned tobacco use due to an earlier lawsuit filed by a passenger.
The story said that the results of the inspections, released yesterday, showed that the concentrations of PM2.5 particles [fine particulate matter] ‘in carriages of the three trains where passengers can smoke’ exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter, meaning the air could be considered hazardous to human health.
China’s high-speed rail networks all prohibit smoking, but passengers on slow trains can smoke in designated areas, often in the connecting areas between carriages.
Cui Xiaobo, deputy director of the Beijing Tobacco Control Association, said second-hand smoke was likely to cause life-threatening, acute illnesses.
“A lot of emergency medical requests occurring on trains are linked to vulnerable groups, including the elderly, children, pregnant women and those with chronic diseases who breathe in smoke,” he said.
The researchers interviewed 94 passengers on the four trains and found that 77 of them would applaud a complete ban on smoking on slow trains.
People made 3.37 billion railway trips in China during 2018.
January 11, 2019
Retail restrictions sought
A leading New Zealand-owned and operated vaping company, Alt, is supporting calls for tobacco to be removed from all dairies, according to a story at Voxy.co.nz.
Alt New Zealand’s director, Jonathan Devery reportedly said that such a move would bring considerable health and security benefits.
Devery said that dairy owners needn’t worry about losing income because ongoing hikes in tobacco tax and dwindling smoking rates were already contributing to lower retailer revenue.
At the same time, vaping products, which were much better for society, were proving increasingly profitable for dairy owners.
In recent days, dairy owners have reportedly raised concerns that a New Year rise in tobacco tax had put them at greater risk of theft.
Meanwhile, the Maori public health organization Hapai Te Hauora has called on tobacco’s availability to be limited, noting that smokers trying to give up are more likely to relapse if a cigarette stockist is only a short distance away.
Devery agrees. Although ramping up excise taxes would help toward achieving New Zealand’s Smoke Free 2025 goal, the Government needed to consider the availability of tobacco. Getting cigarettes out of corner dairies would be a great start.
Additionally, Devery said that if the smoke-free goal was to be achieved, vaping products had to be readily available and advertised in a regulated and responsible manner.
Alt was said to be looking forward to the Government this year amending the Smokefree Environments Act 1990, which, among other things, would help distinguish the considerably-safer vaping products from smoking products.
January 11, 2019
Don’t mention ENDS
Suppliers of vaping devices, including electronic cigarettes and heat-not-burn products, are facing growing Government resistance to their efforts to break into the Indian market, according to a story by Anoo Bhuyan published at thewire.in.
At least three ministries are said to have proposed new regulations on the marketing or import of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has proposed an amendment to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2018 to ban the advertisement of such products.
And the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued a circular – referring to an advisory from the Union health ministry – that all import consignments of ENDS must be cleared by the drug controllers of the states in which the products arrive.
The controllers are then obliged to check the compliance of the products against the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Based on those reports, non-compliant consignments can be denied clearance and punitive action can be taken against those in violation of the Act.
But the story says that the most striking curb on ENDS comes from the proposed amendments to the IT Act.
The legislation was enacted in 2000 to boost and regulate e-commerce transactions, to prevent digital crime and – more recently – to curb fake news on social media.
Section three of the proposed rules states that ‘intermediaries’ should ensure they do not publish information on anything that threatens public health or safety. It goes on to mention tobacco products, intoxicants including alcohol and ENDS.
January 10, 2019
Smugglers move with times
Customs authorities in China’s Zhejiang Province have arrested 27 suspects allegedly involved in smuggling heat-not-burn devices and consumable sticks with a value of more than 400 million yuan (US$58.4 million), according to a Xinhua news agency story.
Customs representatives speaking in the city of Ningbo on Monday said that more than 470,000 cartons of sticks had been confiscated in the latest operation.
Earlier, 30,000 cartons of sticks and 500 tobacco-heating devices had been seized while taking down three cross-border smuggling gangs.
A suspect surnamed Li was said to have confessed that his accomplice had bought sticks and devices in Japan to smuggle them into China.
Li alone was said to have smuggled more than 100,000 cartons before his arrest.
Investigators were said also to have identified nearly 300 other smugglers.
The Xinhua story said that ‘electronic cigarettes’ could not be sold in China legally. However, it said, smugglers resorted to online platforms and instant messaging applications to sell them disguised as other products.
The story referred to the smuggled products throughout as ‘electronic cigarettes’, but it seems likely that they were in fact heated-tobacco products given that reference was made in the story specifically to ‘tobacco heating devices’ and ‘cartons of cigarettes’.
The story seems to be questionable also in claiming that electronic cigarettes cannot be sold in China, though, again, the question of legality could refer to heat-not-burn products. According to the recent report, No fire, no smoke: Global state of tobacco harm reduction, electronic cigarettes can be sold legally in China.
January 9, 2019
Targeting tourists
Macau lawmaker Lam Lon Wai has asked the Government to ensure the safety of tobacco control officers following an incident last week in which a police officer fired a warning gunshot when assaulted by allegedly unruly smokers outside the Galaxy Macau casino resort, according to a story in The Macau Daily Times.
As part of his request, Lam noted that tobacco control officers had to deal with attacks and insults during their law enforcement duties.
But the Galaxy Macau incident reflected an increased challenge for tobacco control officers and police officers who are responsible for enforcing the law.
Lam said the police authority, the Health Bureau (SSM) the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau (DICJ) and gaming operators needed to set up additional support to guarantee the safety of tobacco control officers working on the frontline.
He asked the Government what measures were employed by the police authority, the SSM, and the DICJ to ensure the officers’ safety.
Citing SSM statistics on the number of prosecutions for illegal smoking, Lam said that about 70 percent of illicit smokers were tourists.
This meant, according to Lam, that tourists should be the main target of tobacco control campaigns; so he asked the Government to reveal the details of the new tobacco control law’s promotional campaign to tourists.
January 8, 2019