While Law 315 came into force in Panama, prohibiting the use, importation and marketing of electronic cigarettes, the Philippines approved the “Vape Law”, which recognizes the right of more than 16 million Filipinos to have access to effective and safe alternatives that help you reduce the impact of tobacco use on your health.
The Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Vaporized Products Regulation Act regulates the import, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use and communication of vaping products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTP).
With the Vape Law, in addition, minors will be protected because they will be prohibited from buying electronic cigarettes and sanctions are established for those who are caught violating the prohibitions of this rule.
The decision of the Philippine Congress constitutes the first comprehensive law against smoking in almost 20 years and reverses what was approved in 2017. It is expected that with this new legislation, smoking rates can be lowered, which kills more than 100 thousand smokers Filipinos annually.
The rule seeks to establish new policies to reduce the number of deaths caused by the tobacco epidemic, in addition to establishing provisions to prevent the sale of these products to minors, by setting a permitted age for consumption.
This new law also proposes a different strategy in the fight against cigarette smuggling, which in recent years has become a scourge for that country, revealing that, instead of stopping smuggling, it ended up promoting crime.
The Philippines was one of the countries that in 2003 voted to ratify the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The reality of Panama
Panama suffers from the same situation where the contraband cigarette market takes over the streets of Panama. In 2016, 60.8% of the cigarettes consumed in Panama were contraband, while in 2021, five years later, this figure increased to 87.9%, according to the Illegal Cigarette Market Study carried out in Panama in 2021 by Nielsen (Global leader in audience insights, data and analytics).
From the Association for the Reduction of Harm due to Smoking of Panama (ARDTP) and the Association of Smokers and Family Members for a Smoke-Free Panama they have warned that approving legislation such as the recently sanctioned and promulgated Law that prohibits the use, commercialization and importation of electronic cigarettes drives illicit trade.
On the subject, Tomás Sánchez, president of the Association for the Reduction of Harm due to Smoking of Panama, insisted that with this law a message is being sent to the illicit market that smuggling is allowed in Panama, thus violating all international agreements that have Panama signed to combat smuggling.
Sánchez maintains that this law continues to condemn smokers to continue using combustion cigarettes because there are no alternatives for them, while in the rest of the world they have access to electronic cigarettes and other less harmful non-combustion devices.
