Less choice and significantly higher prices for hardware and ready-mixed e-juice. That's what Swedish vejpers can expect in the future. The reason is that the Public Health Agency of Sweden wants to raise the fees for registering products in Sweden. By 350 percent.
Public Health Agency of Sweden wants to increase the fees for registering vejp products in Sweden. And this is no small increase. In a request to the Riksdag, the authority proposes to increase the fee from SEK 3,000 to SEK 10,500, per product.
"It's a 350% increase and it will effectively reduce the number of products that can be sold in Sweden. The price of those that remain will of course be much higher," says Niklas Linder who runs the vejp company Swedish Mixology in Motala and is active in the Electronic Cigarette Industry Organization (BELC).
"E-cigs are not like cigarettes"
Under the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), in principle, each component of an electronic cigarette must be registered in the country where it is to be sold. This must be done at least 6 months before sales start. Finished e-juice with nicotine must also be registered, as well as disposable models. Registration is usually done by the company that manufactures or distributes the products.
To handle the registrations, the authority concerned, in Sweden's case the Public Health Agency, may charge a fee to cover the costs. The fee is intended to cover the handling of a notification, documentation, control and other bureaucratic tasks.
"The registration system is based on the same model as for tobacco products. It involves a small number of products, a cigarette, a variant of rolling tobacco and so on. Registration is usually done via a major distribution company and certainly works well for tobacco. But e-cigs are not like cigarettes. Each individual e-cigarette model may need between 3 and 10 registrations to work as intended," says Niklas Linder.
75,000 for a starter kit
The management of vejp products has proven to be more costly than expected. At present, companies pay SEK 3000 per registration. A simple pod system, consisting of a tank and a battery, currently costs SEK 6000 to register. A more advanced system, a beginner's kit with a separate and refillable tank, battery and five different types of evaporators (coils), 7 products in total, currently costs SEK 21,000 to register.
If the Public Health Agency of Sweden has its way, the cost of a pod system will increase to SEK 20,000. For a more advanced beginner's kit, the cost will be closer to SEK 75,000. The same applies to e-liquid that is pre-mixed with nicotine. It is not uncommon for a TPD-registered e-juice line to contain up to 20 different flavors and nicotine strengths. Each flavor and nicotine strength must be registered separately.
Not worth it for businesses
According to Niklas Linder, the increase will ultimately affect both Swedish business owners and customers.
"Sweden is a small market. There are hardly too many Chinese tech giants and we should not expect companies to be more interested in registering their products here if the cost is higher. Retailers will have access to a very limited range of products, which will probably lead to fewer customers finding the system they need to quit smoking. This will obviously have a negative effect on both businesses and customers," says Niklas Linder.
"A thief against consumers and shops"
He is joined by Karl-Åke Johansson, President of the Consumer Association NNA Sweden. Karl-Åke Johansson sees a bleak future, for the Swedes who vejpar today but also for smokers who could quit smoking, with the help of e-cigarettes.
"The supply in our vejp shops will be greatly reduced. Those vejpers who know how to make them will import directly from China instead, as they had to do 10 years ago. But for beginners, and smokers who want to try e-cigarettes, it will be much harder to find the right products. This is a kind of sneak attack by the Public Health Agency that will kill many vejp shoppers and thus prevent more smokers from choosing e-cigarettes over smoking" says Karl Åke Johansson.
Cheaper if more people paid
According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden's request, which is part of the bill "Tighter rules for new nicotine products", the increase is justified by the fact that the workload per registration is high, while the number of registered and paid products is relatively low. In practice, foreign companies have only paid fees for 16% of the products registered in Sweden.
"If this proportion had been higher, the fee could have been at a lower level. The increase will mainly burden foreign companies, as this group is in the majority and has more products available on the Swedish market than the other companies," the Public Health Agency writes in its request.
Decisions in Parliament
Parliament will vote on the bill "Tighter rules for new nicotine products" on June 21. The Social Affairs Committee will consider the matter until 14 June. The bill also includes a proposal on e-liquid taste ban and new rules for nicotine pouches. Vejpkollen has collected articles about it proposed Swedish taste ban here.
