Recently, many countries are considering implementing policies to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes to address the increasing number of children and adolescents using e-cigarettes.
On January 29th, British Prime Minister Sunak visited a school located in the northeast of England. He stated that the current situation of children and adolescents smoking e-cigarettes in the UK is concerning.
To reduce this phenomenon, the government must take strong measures, including issuing a one-time ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes and imposing heavy penalties on businesses that illegally sell electronic cigarettes to children.
At present, the legal age for purchasing tobacco products in England and Wales is 18 years old.
At the Conservative Party annual meeting held in October 2023, Sunak announced measures to ban the sale of tobacco products to people born on or after January 1, 2009, and to prohibit the sale of disposable e-cigarettes to children under the age of 14.
In the UK, disposable e-cigarettes are very popular among young people, with high nicotine content, diverse flavors, and affordable prices, but they are easily adictive.
According to a report by Agence France Presse, the number of people under the age of 18 in the UK who use disposable e-cigarettes has increased nearly 9-fold in the past two years, and 9% of people aged 11 to 15 have also used e-cigarettes.
New Zealand, Australia, France, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Thailand and other countries are also considering or implementing policies to ban the sale of disposable e-cigarettes.
This indicates that the standardization trend for disposable electronic cigarettes is gradually taking shape globally.
New Zealand prohibits the sale of disposable electronic cigarette products from December 21, 2023;
Australia plans to ban the import of disposable e-cigarettes from January 1, 2024.
Starting from January 1, 2024, the Netherlands no longer allows the purchase of e-cigarettes with flavors such as pineapple, honey, kiwifruit, or nuts. Only tobacco flavored e-cigarettes can be purchased.
Belgium, starting from January 1, 2024, will implement a new tax policy for e-liquid, which will charge a tax of 15 euros per milliliter.
In 2023, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health, as well as Chairman of the Health Promotion Foundation, Anu Ting, ordered an increase in the regulation and enforcement of electronic cigarettes, prohibiting them from entering Thailand in any form.
More than 95% of global e-cigarettes are produced in China, with a total export value of over 79.1 billion yuan in 2023.
In 2023, the United States remains the largest market for China's e-cigarette exports, accounting for 27.98% at $3.101 billion, followed closely by the United Kingdom. The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Russia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines are among the top ten markets for Chinese e-cigarette exports.
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