The EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has come under fire from two separate groups within Europe, including health experts in Switzerland, calling for an amendment to vaping regulations.
Representatives from the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) along with exhibition organisers, Vapitaly, have registered a citizens’ initiative with the European Commission (EC) – ‘Let’s demand smarter vaping regulation!’ – which calls for Article 20 of the TPD to be scrapped and replaced by a new Vaping Products Directive (VPD).
This new VPD would include “bespoke legislation which clearly sets vaping products apart from tobacco and pharmaceutical products,” ECigIntelligence reported.
The initiative was submitted by Dustin Dahlmann, of the European Vape Alliance, and Mosè Giacomello, of Vapitaly, which calls on the EC to “ensure new legislation [is] based on mandatory compliance with robust product quality, safety and manufacturing standards, together with responsible marketing practices that ensure youth protection.”
Giacomello said that the creation of a dedicated VPD would “be based on scientific evidence and focused primarily on the role of vaping in tobacco harm reduction.” He added that a VPD should be separate from the existing TPD.
For this initiative to be considered, it must collect more than 1 million signatures – by February next year – from at least a quarter of EU member states.
Meanwhile, a group of Swiss Health Experts from the Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+) are also putting pressure on the TPD, proposing current regulations around the sizes of tanks and bottles, and nicotine strengths, be changed as they’re too low.
They’ve suggested allowing tanks to be five times bigger as this, they believe, will be instrumental in cutting tobacco use.
The SSPH+ say that a tank of 10ml is “more reasonable,” as current 2ml tank sizes are not big enough to see many vapers through the day, which can lead to tobacco purchases when people find themselves empty and without a means to refill easily.
Increasing the size of e-liquid bottles is also on the SSPH+’s list, with a proposed increase to 100ml on the cards for environmental reasons.
