The Aiduce association was quick to communicate after the transposition of article 20 of the European directive on tobacco products, moreover, it announces that it is studying the possibilities of action and appeal.
“On March 3, 2016, the king signed the royal decree which signs the announced death of vaping in Belgium by transposing article 20 of the European directive on tobacco products.
We expected this application but must admit that we did not imagine a scenario even more restrictive for the vape.
No surprise with regard to most of the arrangements made with this decree, we were entitled to a simple copy / paste of the Directive.
- Bottle limitation to 10ml
- Limitation of nicotine to 20mg / ml
- Constant diffusion of nicotine
- Tamper-proof bottle
- Maximum 2ml tank and without leakage
- A device must be added so that there is no leakage during filling
- Manufacturers will have to notify each marketed product
The notification of a product 6 months before its marketing will be obligatory.
And this is where Belgium begins to sign the end of the risk reduction of smoking: whatever the product (device or e-liquid) the manufacturer will have to pay 4000 € per product.
Finally, in addition to the following recommendation "The nicotine contained in this product is highly addictive. Its use by non-smokers is not recommended. On 35% of the bottle, the manufacturer will have to insert a leaflet on the packaging with various information:
- instructions for use and storage
- the contraindications
- adverse effects
- effects of dependence and toxicity
- the details of the manufacturer or importer.
No other restrictions on liquids or equipment other than the prohibition, like tobacco, of various additives such as caffeine, taurine and other stimulants. Also prohibits the additives that change the color of the steam and which to our knowledge do not exist ...
The age limit for the purchase of a VP decreases to match the tobacco, 16 years.
These new restrictions, as we have been saying for several years now, are now dominating the tobacco industry. The diversity of the effective vape material will represent a cost so prohibitive for the independent professionals that we fear strongly the disappearance pure and simple of all the shops.
And to drive the point, the order orders a prohibition of online sales and purchases in all its forms.
Belgians will have a hard time getting supplies of equipment and liquids and little chance of seeing the shops that exist today.
This decree is accompanied by sanctions. And not least.
The ban on vaping in public places is now formally integrated. Just like the sale of non-compliant equipment, offenders will be fined € 156 to € 6000. Add to this that professionals will be more heavily sanctioned. The store that sells non-compliant equipment and the owner of a restaurant or bar who lets you vape risks 6 months in prison in addition to the already substantial fine.
While deduce ?
The vape is not dead, but it is largely agonizing.
While the vape is opposed drastic standards, tobacco on its side is doing rather well. Because yes, if a text transposes the vape part of the directive, another deals with the tobacco part.
And our astonishment is great because the measures taken against tobacco are less, especially as regards the pre-marketing notification. If the manufacturer of products of the vape must pay 4000 € to be able to pretend to sell a product, the tobacco manufacturer will have to pay him the sum of 125 €.
When multinational multimillionaires do not even pay 5% of the sum requested to small manufacturers, we deduce that the regulation is oriented and unfair even though the tobacco, harmful, is in competition with the alternative 95% less dangerous than is the vape.
It is therefore a system with two weights and two measures.
While the vape should be encouraged as suggested by the Higher Council of Health or reported by RTL.be which was based on the words of Jacques Houezec, while studies confirm today the risk reduction tool of the smoking that is the vape, it is sabotaged and virtually destroyed by our country, with the congratulations of Europe and the tobacco industry who can rub their hands.
The impact of this decree is already bearing fruit. If many have the idea that its implementation will take time, it is already wrong for some points.
This is the case for online sales, which already suffers from this drastic regulation. Foreign stores already warn their customers that arrived at the deadline, they will no longer deliver in Belgium. Belgian online shops, faced with the vagueness of this royal decree liberticide, are forced to liquidate stocks as soon as possible before closing.
Why not see in this text, not a protection of the population in the name of alleged non-existent risks, but an opportunity offered to the tobacco industry to protect its deadly work ?
- Manufacturers / importers / independent vape shops in the tobacco industry will never be able to afford 4000 € for each reference.
- only the tobacco industry will be able to pay these reporting costs, thus leaving it all the space to ensure the exclusivity of its products, much less effective in weaning tobacco.
- When smokers who try to vape in the context of risk reduction will be demotivated by a material inefficient, it will return much more easily to their conventional cigarette. This will undoubtedly be worth future speeches about the inefficiency of a device that the public authorities have deliberately condemned to failure.
- the tobacco industry will no longer need to innovate in the vape, the market will disappear and their empire will continue to flourish.
The coffers of the states so dependent on the money of the lobbies will certainly be better ...
We have always demanded a regulation on the products of the vape, a fair and balanced regulation to guarantee the comfort and the safety of the consumers. But here we are dealing with a deadly and murderous text that will send many vapers back to tobacco use and prevent access to smokers. Must we remember that the vape is, at least, 95% less harmful than tobacco? To put it another way, the vape does not even reach 5% of tobacco toxicity. The same can not be said of many products of everyday life.
The directive used to draft this royal decree is obsolete just like the material it defines through its lines. We are offended to see that the few media that share this public health information are exhibiting material that will soon be banned.
We need to be more united than ever to fight against this regulation.
L'Aiduce studies the possibilities of action and recourse. Other vapers are also coming together to act, we hope the professionals of the sector will do the same. We will support all initiatives that will allow vapers to continue using what has kept them away from tobacco and smokers to have the opportunity to try the vape. We will of course inform the Belgian vapers of all possible actions in the future.
Vapers have received a massive blow, but even more seriously, public health has today been sacrificed to its worst enemy… tobacco and its 700 annual deaths in Europe. "
Source : Aiduce.org
