The Vote Is In - Members of the European Parliament Approve New EU Tobacco Rules

LONDON, February 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Yesterday a vote to approve a deal reached with member states in December on new EU tobacco rules was passed by Members of the European Parliament.

As e-cigarettes caused concern for national governments regarding the unknown long-term health effects, the proposal put forward by the European Commission in 2012 called for them to be regulated as medicines, and member states also requested to ban refillable cartridges over concerns about safety and nicotine content.

Following the announcement, Patricia Kovacevic, Director, Regulatory Affairs and Associate General Counsel of SKYCIG and Advisory Board Member of eCig Europe - mentioned, "We are obviously disappointed that the European Parliament failed to give due consideration to the harm reduction opportunity presented by electronic cigarettes  and, moreover, neglected to propose a well-reasoned, product-specific regulatory framework to adequately address consumer demand. Several more procedural steps must be followed before the revisions to the TPD will be deemed effective, and it seems likely that the implementation of TPD Article 18 at the national level will continue to face opposition from multiple interested stakeholders. We expect clear direction and transparency from UK authorities with regard to the TPD implementation pathway in the UK. In any event, we will continue to comply with all legal requirements as they become applicable to our products."

The compromise agreed with national governments in December, backed by MEPs today, will see e-cigarettes regulated for general sale at EU level, but member states would be allowed to regulate them as medicines if they so choose. Refillable cartridges will not be banned. However member states can ban specific types of cartridges, if the ban can be justified by safety concerns. Cartridge size will be capped at 2ml. E-cigarettes will be limited to a maximum permitted nicotine concentration level of 20mg/ml, equivalent to roughly one pack of regular cigarettes.

Patricia Kovacevic (SKYCIG), Peter Beckett (ECITA) and Oliver Kershaw (EC FORUM) will  be speaking further about the future of e-cigarettes at eCig Europe industry conference, taking place in Nice, France 17^th - 19^th June 2014. For more information, please visit http://www.ecigeurope.com/news, call +44(0)20-7036-1300 or email enquire@iqpc.co.uk.

Media contact: Veronica Araujo, +44(0)20-7368-9748, veronica.araujo@iqpc.co.uk or visit http://www.ecigeurope.com/news.

Press are invited to attend this important industry forum. If you would like a complimentary press pass please email Veronica Araujo at veronica.araujo@iqpc.co.uk

SOURCE IQPC