The Government recognises that e-cigarettes help some smokers to quit and the evidence indicates that they are considerably less harmful to health than cigarettes. At the same time, it is essential that we do not encourage smoking and continue to protect children from the effects of nicotine.
The rules set out in the revised Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), published in April 2014, have applied in the UK from 20 May 2016 and cover tobacco and smokeless tobacco products, herbal products and, for the first time, regulate e-cigarettes. The Government has consulted on how to implement them.
Ministers understand that e-cigarettes are helpful to some people wishing to quit smoking, but the quality of products on the market remains highly variable. It is therefore important that proportionate regulation is introduced to ensure minimum safety requirements and that information is provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices. This is the aim of the regulatory framework set out in the TPD.
In implementing the new EU rules, the Government has worked towards regulation that permits a range of products, to remain on the market which are positioned as alternatives to smoking, not as products that introduce children to vaping or smoking. Since May 2016, e-cigarettes that are licenced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency are still able to be advertised, and the advertising of all other e-cigarettes is no longer permitted on television.
I hope that this reassures my constituents that the new rules in the revised TPD do not aim to prevent people from using e-cigarettes, but rather to provide consumers with safer, less variable products.