Vapouround magazine Issue 06 | Page 172

FYI IBVTA: Independent British Vape Trade Association FIVAPE: Fédération interprofessionnelle de la vape / Interprofessional Vaping Federation / French Vaping Federation T hese are challenging times for the vape industry in Europe as it comes to terms with a new regulatory environment following the implementation of the revised Tobacco Products Directive. There are other challenges on the horizon including the vexed issue of taxation and the forthcoming COP 7 meeting in India later this year. Hoping to rise to these challenges is a new body established to provide a united voice for the independent vape industry in Brussels – the European Coalition for Independent Vape (ECIV). Recently, I met with two of ECIV’s founding committee members, Fraser Cropper and Jean Moiroud, to find out more about this new organisation and how it is coming to terms with Brexit. 1) Could you introduce IBVTA and FIVAPE? Fraser: IBVTA is a collaborative organisation and is not owned by any one individual company or group of companies, IBVTA is owned collectively by all its members. Based in the heart of Westminster, IBVTA is supported by a dedicated secretariat and a science and regulatory committee made up of engineers, chemists, and pharmacists. The mission of IBVTA is to provide 172 ISSUE 06 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE credible knowledge and guidance to support the independent vape sector and promote constructive interaction between this industry sector and the scientific community, vapers, regulators, policy makers, and the general public. IBVTA fosters research and manufacturing excellence, in order to deliver a robust yet proportionate consumer regulatory landscape that adequately reflects the needs of vaping stakeholders and recognises vaping as a sector in its own right. All IBVTA members are free from any ownership or control by the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. Jean: FIVAPE, the Interprofessional Vaping Federation, represents more than 360 French vape companies, among them the leading French producers and distributors. Its four divisions – Manufacturers, Distributors, User Relations and Europe & International – align themselves with all relevant stakeholders and experts in order to establish a network, defend professional and user interests, offer trainings, develop standards and advocate the liberty of vaping. Fivape has further committed itself to full independence from the tobacco industry and therefore has each member sign a declaration of absence of interests with manufacturers of conventional cigarettes and other tobacco products. Last June, IBVTA and FIVAPE announced that they were joining forces to form ECIV. Could you tell us why you decided to create this cooperation? Jean: Fivape has been active both at the European and the international level since its foundation. We were explaining our vision for an independent sector to our friends outside France, knowing that many stakeholders were sharing our views: vape products are neither tobacco nor pharmaceutical products and should therefore be regulated as a product set in its own right. ECIV firstly means bringing people and the industry together, so we can promote a proportionate regulation based on the fact that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking. ECIV is an initiative that will allow us to work more closely together to shape the future of vaping in Europe and to defend the interests of millions of individual vapers. Fraser: Many of those involved in the creation of IBVTA have worked closely with FIVAPE for some time. Our experience of the TPD and the more recent engagements that IBVTA has had in Brussels convinced us of the need, not onl