New Zealand Enacts Law Restricting Flavors in E-liquids

The vaping industry in New Zealand has three months to prepare for regulation after a law banning advertising and restricting flavors has passed under the cover of night. It’s taken 620 days to get the law over the line after Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa promised to regulate the industry in November 2018.

It wasn’t until this year she introduced the bill, which was voted through the House late last night – just before the final sitting day in this term of government, according to an article in The New Zealand Herald.

The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Vaping Amendment Bill will come into effect in November of this year. It has broadly been welcomed but some fear it is too restrictive and could result in people using vaping as a smoking-cessation tool to turn back to cigarettes.

The new law will:

• Ban the sale of vaping products to those under the age of 18.
• Prohibit advertising the products and encouraging people to buy them in-store.
• Limit the sale of all flavors to specialist stores, including online retailers, with shops Like dairies, supermarkets and petrol stations restricted to mint, menthol and tobacco.
• Allow speciality stores to continue offering loyalty points and discounts.
• Ban vaping in cars with children.
• Enable all retailers to display products in-store.
• Provide a framework for regulations to be set where people are allowed to vape in or outside premises.
• Introduce a safety system which would allow the Ministry of Health to recall products, suspend them and issue warnings.