Health Ministry Urged to Frame Law to Ban Manufacture, Sale of e-cigarettes

The Ministry of Commerce and Industries has urged the Health Ministry to frame law banning manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes in the country as in the absence of the domestic legislation, it would not be possible to put a blanket ban on its imports.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industries has stated that without banning domestic sale and manufacturing of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) through law, it will be an infringement of global trade norms to put an import ban.

Electronic Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporise a solution, which a user then inhales. The main constituents of the solution, in addition to nicotine, are propylene glycol.

Earlier, the Health Ministry had asked the commerce ministry to issue a notification banning the import of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes and flavoured hookah. To put the ban into effect the Commerce Ministry has urged the Health Ministry to frame rules regarding the domestic sale and manufacturing so that the Ministry of Commerce and Industries can go ahead with imposing of the blanket ban on the imports.
As per the World Health Organization report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2017, governments of 30 countries which includes Mauritius, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have already banned the Electronic cigarettes.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2019