The Danish Parliament voted this week to ban flavorings in e-liquids. This is despite the fact that the ban is contrary to the EU Treaty and free trade within the Union. The ban will come into force in April 2022, and includes all flavored e-juices, except tobacco flavors and menthol.
"There is a mixture of frustration, surprise and confusion at the moment" says Kim Dabelstein Petersen, Chairman of Danish vejp Association DADAFO.
The Danish government has chosen to ban virtually all flavors in e-liquid. At the same time, the government will ban both exposure and "enticing" packaging. This would mean the end of vejpning as an effective smoking cessation method in Denmark, according to DADAFO. At the same time, the law is knocking the feet out from under the vejp shoppers in the country.
"Unless companies take legal action, they will lose their businesses within two years" says Kim Dabelstein Petersen to Vejpkollen.
Violating the EU Treaty
As Vejpkollen previously reported the European Commission considers that the Danish ban on flavored e-juice is not in line with the EU's harmonized market. And since flavored e-juices are on sale in other EU countries, the flavor ban is a direct trade barrier.
"It is a violation of the EU Treaty. The Danish Parliament made a choice to allow flavors when they implemented the European Tobacco Products Directive into law." says Kim Dabelstein Petersen.
Neutral packaging
The ban is part of the Danish government's efforts to reduce smoking in Denmark. The plan is to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. The proposal also includes regulations on so-called "plain-packaging" where tobacco products may not be sold in anything other than neutral, "non-attractive" packages. This will also apply to vejp products.
Taste bans threaten free trade
In a letter to the Danish Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke As recently as November, the European Commission urged the Danish government to delay the planned ban. At least until the issue of flavorings has been addressed in the revision of the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).
"The current proposal goes against the temporary derogation allowed by EU law for these products. We will address the regulation of flavorings in the revision of the current Tobacco Products Directive and look forward to working closely on this in 2021." the EU Commission wrote
"Flavors are not a threat to health"
The Danish government, on the other hand, believes that taste bans are possible. In a reply to the commission The government compares flavors in e-liquid to flavors in tobacco, citing that the flavor ban is to protect young people from potentially harmful products.
"They invoke the so-called 'health clause', which allows EU countries to ban products at local level that are a direct threat to people's health. But the arguments that flavors attract young people are more about emotional arguments, suspicion and ignorance. Flavored e-juice itself is not a real health hazard. And then the health clause does not apply" says Kim Dabelstein Petersen.
"Nobody knows what is happening"
Jeanett Bergfriedt Andersen, spokesperson for the Danish Association for E-cigarettes, BECIG, says that the confusion is almost total after the decision in parliament. Many hoped that the government would take the call from the EU more seriously.
"I think the government is being forced to wait to introduce the law. But nobody knows what is happening right now" says Jeanett Bergfriedt Andersen to Vejpkollen.
BECIG has been trying to get a clearer message from the authorities this week about what will apply, but without success. Something that is worrying for businesses
"At this point, we don't know if we will be allowed to sell only tobacco-flavored e-juice after April 1, 2022." says Jeanett Bergfriedt Andersen.
Important for companies to act legally
According to Kim Dabelstein Petersen and DADAFO, it's important that vejp companies act fast now. Otherwise, they will be without most of their revenue-generating products by 2022.
"We urge the vejpshoppers to go to court. They will lose their businesses otherwise. The Danish government knows that they wrote a law that goes against the EU Treaty. There are also possibilities for the European Commission to act legally. But in the meantime, the law will stand" says Kim Dabelstein Petersen.
Tobacco companies take over e-cigs
If, or when, the vejp shoppers disappear, the e-cigarette market is open to another industry, says Kim Dabelstein Petersen. Tobacco industry.
"The tobacco companies have hardly anything to do with the vejp market in Denmark today. 95 percent are independent companies. Flavors are not important to the tobacco companies. They only use them for marketing. When competition disappears, they take over. We will only have British American Tobacco and their VYPE. If the purpose of the law is to get the tobacco companies out of the market, then the Danish government's strategy is quite ridiculous." says Kim Dabelstein Petersen.
E-cigs twice as effective as nicotine medicines
According to DADAFO, 75,000 Danes currently use e-cigarettes to stay away from analog cigarettes. Ministry of Health and the Elderly for its part, like the Swedish Public Health Agency, does not recommend e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool. The rationale is that e-cigarettes are not an approved medicine. Meanwhile, a recently released report from the influential Cochrane Institute shows that e-cigarettes are twice as effective in quitting smokingcompared to nicotine-only medicines.
The association ETHRA, which is run by 23 independent consumer associations in the EU, has in the fall launched a questionnaire survey where vejp users answer questions about their use of e-cigarettes and e-liquid. So far, 35,000 users have responded to the survey, which is open until the end of the year. The aim is to provide a clearer picture of how e-cigarettes are used today ahead of the upcoming revision of the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).
