Following a brief public consultation, the Dutch government has announced it will carry out its plan to prohibit vaping flavors other than tobacco, although the final deadline has been postponed for the second time.
The new rules specify a very limited list of allowed ingredients.
The rule will allow flavored products to be manufactured until July 1, 2023, and sold until Oct. 1, 2023. The ban includes both nicotine-containing and zero-nicotine e-liquids, and applies to bottled vape juice and pre-filled pods and disposables.
The new rules also prevent manufacturers from using words or images on packages that refer to anything but tobacco, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
Not including the Netherlands, six European countries have prohibited non-tobacco flavors. In Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary and Lithuania, flavored vape restrictions are already in place, and Ukraine’s flavor ban will take effect in July 2023. No European country has an outright ban on all vape products.
Just 16 e-liquid ingredients are allowed
The final rule was published Nov. 28 in the official government gazette Staatscourant, and includes a list of 16 allowed e-liquid ingredients. The government says that 25 percent of existing tobacco-flavored vape products can be made with the allowed substances.
But manufacturers disagree, saying the limited list of allowed ingredients would make developing new flavors impossible—including tobacco flavors.
“We were able to taste the first [e-liquids made with the allowed flavorings],” said Emil ‘t Hart, chairman of vaping trade association Esigbond. “That is a very weak copy of what a tobacco flavor should be. Essential parts are missing to get the taste right. With this, the Secretary of State goes much further than just a taste ban, because no tobacco can be made with these ingredients.”
Jim McDonald – Vaping360 – 2022-12-02.
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