Tag: regulation

Report: China’s ENDS Exports to Reach $27 Million in 2022

Credit: Zapp 2 Photo
The Blue Book of Electronic Cigarette Exports released on Tuesday estimates that the China’s electronic nicotine-delivery product (ENDS) exports will reach 186.7 billion yuan ($27.82 billion) this year, with exports for the first quarter already totaling 45.3 billion yuan.
According to the Blue Book, produced by the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, the exports of ENDS in China was 138.3 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 180 percent year-over-year. Among the over 1,500 e-cigarette businesses in China, more than 70 percent are export-oriented.
The Blue Book counts the scale of China’s ENDS exports in different markets in the first quarter of 2021. Among them, the U.S. market is the largest destination with 58 percent ($73.3 billion), followed by the European Union and Britain, which account for 24 percent ($34 billion), then Russia with 8 percent ($9.7 billion). Southeast Asia and the Middle East account for 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
“Although there has been some controversy in the development of e-cigarettes, many still want to consider the industrial value and explore the harm reduction technology that comes along with the new business model,” according to Pan Daily. “In 2021, there were more than 1,500 domestic e-cigarette manufacturing and brand enterprises, more than 190,000 e-cigarette retail outlets, and nearly 100,000 e-cigarette supply chains and merchandise service enterprises. The domestic e-cigarette industry directly employs about 1.5 million people and indirectly employs 4 million people, totaling about 5.5 million people.”
In March this year, China began to enforce its Measures for Electronic Cigarettes Management and the National Standards for Electronic Cigarettes. The regulations put forward clear standards and requirements for compliance operations in production, wholesale and retail, as well as strengthening the protection of minors.
June 15, 2022
L.A. Mayor Signs Flavor Ban into Law, Begins Jan. 1

Credit: Rafinade
A flavor ban for vaping and tobacco products passed by the Los Angeles city council in early June by a 12-0 vote, is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, after it was signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday.
While the law could face legal challenges before its effective date arrives, it could also come after a statewide ban on the sale of flavored tobacco might be in place, as voters will decide the matter as part of the November election.
If voters approve a statewide ban, it could be in effect as early as Dec. 8. Flavored shisha tobacco sold in existing hookah lounges that have their own ventilation system are expemt.
Premium cigars did not receive any exemption in the city’s ban, nor did any products that use menthol. The ordinance does not prohibit the possession or use of flavored tobacco products.
The ban that California’s voters will decide includes an exemption for both shisha tobacco as well as large flavored cigars, though in order to be exempt these cigars would need to have a wholesale price of at least $12, meaning they would retail for around $37 given California’s high tax rate on cigars, according to Halfwheel.
June 15, 2022
31 Attorneys General Ask for FDA to Ban Synthetics

Credit: Mongkolchon
A bipartisan coalition of 31 attorneys general are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reject marketing authorization for all non-tobacco nicotine products, which are currently being sold without regulation of their contents, manufacturing, health effects, required warning labels or marketing claims.
In a letter to the agency, the coalition argues that these products currently don’t meet the FDA’s public health standard, and the regulatory agency should not gamble on the unknown effects of the products. The letter specifically calls for the FDA to reject a request by product manufacturers to grant marketing authorization for non-tobacco nicotine products.
The letter also insists that if the agency does grant marketing authorizations for these products, it imposes the same restrictions required of tobacco-derived nicotine products including a ban on all products with a flavor other than tobacco and strict regulatory requirements regarding their contents, manufacturing, and effect on users’ health.
Products should carry warnings concerning their addictiveness, and manufacturers should be required to validate health claims made about their products, including claims that a product is safer than tobacco.
“E-cigarettes containing synthetic nicotine and other synthetic nicotine products are putting our kids’ health at risk,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein. “The FDA has the power to do more to protect them, and I hope it takes action to prohibit manufacturers and retailers from marketing and selling to young people, using youth-friendly flavors, and putting exorbitant amounts of nicotine in these products, especially because we don’t yet know how dangerous these products are. I appreciate that the FDA has started taking some steps, but it must do more to rein in this industry and keep our kids safe.”
June 13, 2022
FLOW to End Sales of Flavored Products in China

The Beijing-based e-cigarette brand FLOW announced that in compliance with the national policy on e-cigarettes, the company has decided to discontinue the production of its fruit and all non-tobacco flavored cartridges in the Chinese market beginning July 1, 2022, or after the stock of raw materials is consumed this month.
Beginning March of this year, the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes and the mandatory national standards for Electronic Cigarettes have been issued in succession. It puts forward clear standards and requirements for operations to be compliant in their production, wholesale and retail of e-cigarettes, while also strengthening the protection of minors.
According to the Measures for the Administration of Electronic Cigarettes and other regulations and the instructions in the regulatory transition period, after October 1, all of the sales of e-cigarettes in China will be included in a unified trading management platform, according to Pan Daily. Store owners will only be able to buy through the unified platform while consumers will only be allowed to purchase electronic cigarettes from dealers who have the appropriate retail license.
According to the Blue Book of the E-Cigarette Industry in 2021 issued the by Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee, China Electronics, there are nearly 190,000 e-cigarette retail stores in China, including 138,000 authorized stores, 47,000 specialty stores, and 5,000-7,000 collection stores. Under the compliance requirements, the retail market will inevitably face some restructuring and several e-cigarette stores could close or transform their business operations.
Currently, fruit-flavored e-cigarettes account for more than 70% of sales in many retail outlets. The Electronic Cigarette Management Measures prohibits the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and the type that can be swapped for customized and atomized substances.
June 13, 2022
U.K. to Consider Khan Proposal for Tobacco Control
Photo: Iakov Kalinin
The U.K. government said it will consider the recommendations of a report on smoking and publish its own plan in due course, Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said in a written statement to parliament.
“The independent review will help to inform our upcoming White Paper on Health Disparities, which we plan to publish this summer. To complement this, the department will also be publishing a new tobacco control plan in due course,” Javid’s statement said.
Earlier this year, Javid commissioned an independent review into ways the government can help more people quit smoking and live healthier lives, led by Javed Khan, former CEO of children’s charity Barnardo’s.
That review was published today. The key recommendations are:
Increased investment of an additional £125 million ($156.66 million) per year in smokefree 2030 policies, with an extra £70 million per year ringfenced for stop smoking services
Raising the age of sale from 18 by one year every year, until eventually no one can buy a tobacco product in this country
Promotion of vapes as an effective “swap to stop” tool to help people quit smoking
Improving prevention in the NHS so smokers are offered advice and support to quit at every interaction they have with health services
Other interventions recommended in the report include a tobacco license for retailers to limit the availability of tobacco across the country; a rethink of the way cigarette sticks and packets look to reduce their appeal; and a mass media campaign to encourage smokers to quit.
Creeping prohibition won’t stop young adults smoking. It will simply drive the sale of tobacco underground and consumers will buy cigarettes on the black market where no-one pays tax and products are completely unregulated.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
“My proposals are not just a plan for this government, but successive governments too,” said Khan. “To truly achieve a smokefree society in our great country, we need to commit to making smoking obsolete, once and for all.” The U.K. aims having 5 percent or fewer smokers by 2030.
Smokers rights activists condemned the proposal to raise the age of sale of tobacco.
“Creeping prohibition won’t stop young adults smoking. It will simply drive the sale of tobacco underground and consumers will buy cigarettes on the black market where no-one pays tax and products are completely unregulated,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.
“Ultimately this is about freedom of choice and personal responsibility and ministers must think very carefully before they adopt prohibition and coercion as tools to achieve their smoke-free goal.”

Mr. Khan unambiguously states that one of the critical ways the government can get its ambitions for a smoke free society back on track is through greater promotion of vaping.
John Dunne, director general, UKVIA
Tobacco harm reduction activists welcomed the report’s recognition of vaping as a tool to help smokers quit.
“We couldn’t agree more with this report’s stark message for the government, which is that, without immediate action, it will miss its smoke free targets by seven years,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association, in a statement.
“The NHS [National Health Service] tells us that around 78,000 people in the U.K. die every year from smoking, with many more living with debilitating smoking-related illnesses, so the time for inaction is over.
“Mr. Khan unambiguously states that one of the critical ways the government can get its ambitions for a smoke free society back on track is through greater promotion of vaping and the UKVIA, which represents vaping organizations including retailers, manufacturers and distributors, will do everything we can to support this.”
Clark noted that encouraging smokers to switch to reduced risk products such as e-cigarettes is sensible “as long as it is voluntary and based on educating consumers about the relative risks of different nicotine products.”

Illustration: Office for Health Improvement & Disparities
June 9, 2022
Thailand: Decriminalized Cannabis to Begin Thursday
Credit: Art Proximo
Thailand’s Courts of Justice announced that suspects and prisoners on charges related to cannabis use and possession would be freed after cannabis and hemp are removed from the Public Health Ministry’s Category 5 drug list beginning June 9.
The cultivation and smoking of recreational marijuana, even for personal use, will still not be legalized, according to The Haiger.
On Saturday, spokesperson of the Courts of Justice, Sorrawit Limparangsi, confirmed that all suspects and prisoners charged with production, import, export, distribution, use and possession of cannabis even before June 9 would be released.
The Ministry of Public Health is working to decriminalise the use and possession of cannabis in Thailand in a bid to develop medical tourism and the economy in Thailand. Starting Thursday, people are allowed to grow cannabis at home for medical use without asking for government permission. The only requirement, those said people have to download an app called Plook Ganja and register.
Every part of cannabis and hemp, including leaves, stems, fibers, branches, seeds, inflorescences, and roots, can be legally used at home for medical purposes if the amount of THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, or CBD, cannabidiol, is less than 0.2%. That means you are not legally allowed to get high in Thailand, for now anyway.
Smoking cannabis is considered a public nuisance. People can file a complaint against cannabis smokers and those users face a 3-month jail sentence and a fine of up to 25,000 baht if they are found guilty of a public nuisance charge.
The Public Health Ministry says this would help prevent the recreational use and other abuses of cannabis that are currently in conflict with existing Thai laws.
June 7, 2022
UAE Bans Vaping Inside Offices and Public Spaces
Credit: Adobe Photo
Vaping e-cigarettes is prohibited inside offices and closed spaces across the UAE, the health ministry has confirmed. The use of e-cigarettes are now subject to the federal law on tobacco control in the country.
This came as the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) highlighted the dangers of consuming tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, according to Khaleej Times.
According to the UAE government website, the federal law also forbids and penalizes:

The sale of tobacco products to those under 18

Smoking in private cars when a child under the age of 12 is present

Smoking in houses of worship, educational institutions (such as universities and schools), health and sports facilities

Automatic vending equipment and devices for tobacco distribution inside the country

Tobacco advertisement
The MoHAP said it has collaborated with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to block websites that advertise and promote electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS).
The UAE had originally planned to ban vaping products because UAE-based doctors had said that e-cigarettes would create a whole new generation of smokers. However, the country changed course after advocacy groups pushed for the harm reduction products.
Meanwhile, citing the National Health Survey, the ministry said the prevalence of adult tobacco smoking has declined from 11.1 per cent in 2010 to 9.1 per cent in 2018.
The latest edition of the Tobacco Atlas suggests that the UAE has among the lowest cigarette consumption rates. A graphic shared as part of the report shows that an adult smoker consumes 438 cigarettes a year in the country.
June 6, 2022
Los Angeles Bans Flavored Vaping, Tobacco Products
Flavored vaping products will be banned in Los Angeles effective Jan. 1, 2023, though it could happen by December 2022.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 in favor of the ban, which bans the sale of all flavored tobacco products except flavored shisha tobacco. The exemption is quit specific and will allow flavored shisha tobacco to be sold in hookah lounges that have their own ventilation system.
There is no exemption for flavored cigars of any kind. While the law bans the sale of flavored tobacco products, there’s no ban on the possession of these products by consumers, according to Charlie Minato at Halfwheel.
Credit: Sean Pavone Photo
Los Angeles’ ban will go into effect Jan. 1 barring any legal setbacks, though there’s a chance that state law could change as early as Dec. 8.
In 2020, a bill was signed into law that banned flavored tobacco products in the entire state of California, though due to California’s unique direct government process, that law must survive a ballot referendum this November. If a majority of voters support the flavored vape/tobacco ban—technically, the ballot referendum will ask if they want to rollback the law—then flavored tobacco sales could be outlawed as early as Dec. 8, 2022.
The legislation will now move to Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is expected to sign it, according to Filter.
California’s state law includes an exemption for both shisha tobacco as well as large flavored cigars. However, in order to be exempt, the cigars would need to have a wholesale price of at least $12, meaning they would retail for around $37 given California’s high tax rate on cigars.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors—a separate government that can govern the non-chartered areas of Los Angeles County—passed a ban on flavored tobacco products in 2019. That law has been subject to legal challenges, some of which have been dependent on the outcome of the state law.
In April, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced it was moving forward with plans to ban flavored cigars throughout the U.S.
June 2, 2022
US FDA Warns Four for Illegally Selling CBD Products
Credit: Anankkml
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday issued warning letters to four companies illegally selling unapproved animal drugs containing cannabidiol (CBD) that are intended for use in food-producing animals. The companies include Haniel Concepts dba Free State Oils, Hope Botanicals, Plantacea LLC dba Kahm CBD and Kingdom Harvest.
“While the FDA does not know the current extent of CBD use in food-producing animals, the agency is taking steps regarding these unapproved and potentially unsafe products now to help protect animals and the safety of the food supply,” a press release states. “After a food-producing animal is treated with a drug, residues of that drug may be present in the milk, eggs, or meat if the animal is milked, eggs are collected, or the animal is sent to slaughter before the drug is completely out of its system.”
The FDA has not approved any human or animal products containing CBD other than one prescription drug product to treat rare, severe forms of epilepsy in children. The regulatory agency states all other CBD products intended for use as a drug (i.e. making medical claims) are considered unapproved drugs and are illegal to sell.
Some of the claims made by the companies in the warning letters refer to helping “farm animals with stress, anxiety, pain, inflammation, injuries…” and providing “support to help manage normal stress, promote a calming effect, maintain a healthy gut, maintain a normal and balanced behavior, maintain healthy joints, maintain a normal inflammatory response….” These claims, among others, establish the intended use of the products as drugs, according to FDA.
The FDA has requested responses from the companies within 15 working days stating how they will address these violations and prevent their recurrence. Failure to promptly address the violations may result in legal action, including product seizure and/or injunction.
May 27, 2022
Another California City Readies to Ban Flavored Vapes
A small city outside of Santa Cruz is looking to become one of the next cities in California to ban the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products. Last week, the Scotts Valley city council introduced and unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance that will bring an end of the sale of such products.
The ordinance also includes a ban on smoking or vaping in outdoor dining spaces, as well as requiring that all tobacco retailers be at least 21-years-old and prohibiting all self-service tobacco displays, according to Halfwheel.
The city council must still hold a second reading of the ordinance, which is currently scheduled for June 1. If it passes its second reading, it will go into effect 30 days later.
According to the city council agenda, Scotts Valley is the only one of the four incorporated cities in Santa Cruz County not to have such a ban. The county also has a ban that applies to its unincorporated parts.
May 23, 2022