The UK Vaping Industry Association is pleased to see that common sense has prevailed and that the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will almost certainly not be rushed through the legislative process, prior to the Election.
Since the Bill was announced, the UKVIA has maintained that the measures it contains could have such potentially grave impacts on the health of both smokers and vapers that it requires extremely careful consideration.
The UKVIA was horrified when it was revealed that the Department of Health and Social Care had failed to carry out any risk assessments into the health impacts of fewer people using vapes to quit smoking as a result of potential changes to flavour offerings, point of sale displays or packaging and product presentation.
This was compounded by the one-sided membership of the Committee steering the Bill’s passage through parliament; the many factual errors about the health effects of vaping presented to that committee and the lack of representation from the vape industry and vape users.
The General Election gives everyone time to pause, take stock, and – should this Bill be reintroduced once a new government is formed after July 4 – we will continue to engage with whoever is in power.
Whatever happens, the UKVIA remains committed to ensuring that adult smokers and vapers continue to have excellent access to the vaping products and flavours they require to keep them off cigarettes while protecting those underage from ever starting.
The very best way to do this is by introducing a retail and distributor licensing framework, similar to the existing alcohol licencing measures, which would restrict where vapes could be sold and clamps down hard on those retailers who sell to children or who sell illegal or illicit products.
The vape industry is prepared to pay for such a licensing scheme which could raise £50M a year to fund dramatically enhanced Trading Standards teams to robustly enforce the law, backed up by fines of up to £10,000 for retailers or £100,000 for distributors who flout the law.
UKVIA Director General John Dunne said: “It is wrong to rush any legislation through parliament without proper scrutiny but with a Bill like this, where lives are quite literally at stake, it is even more important that the correct checks and balances are in place when considering what new powers to introduce.
“We believe that properly drafted new measures to ban child-friendly designs and flavour names and ensure that products, backed up by a powerful and effective enforcement regime will continue to see smoking rates fall while ensuring that youth uptake rapidly comes down.”
ENDS