NEWS
Calls for
amendments
to the TPD
Influential groups in Europe, the UK and Switzerland are calling for the Tobacco
Products Directive (TPD) to be scrapped and replaced with regulation that
sets vaping apart from smoking.
By Phoebe Fuller
The EU’s Tobacco Products Directive has come under fire from
two separate groups within Europe, the Independent Vape
Alliance (IEVA) and exhibition organisers Vapitaly, calling for an
amendment to vaping regulations. Such industry changes have
also been backed by Swiss health experts, and a prominent UK
vaping association.
All four groups believe that current regulations do not
adequately represent the industry, which is distinct from smoking but
regulated in a similar way; including harsh advertising restrictions
and redundant nicotine warnings on products that don’t contain
the chemical.
Representatives from the IEVA and 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
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Directive (VPD).
The citizens’ initiative, which was submitted by Dustin Dahlmann
of the IEVA and Mosè Giacomello of Vapitaly, requests that the
EC replaces Article 20 with, “bespoke legislation which clearly sets
vaping products apart from tobacco and pharmaceutical products.”
One of the initiative’s main objectives is to ensure that any
new legislation is based on, “mandatory compliance with robust
product quality, safety and manufacturing standards, together with
responsible marketing practices that ensure youth protection.”
For it to be considered by the Commission, the initiative must collect
more than one million signatures from at least a quarter of
EU member states by February 2020.