The Government of Republika Srpska recently adopted the Draft Law on Protection of Public Health from Tobacco and Other Smoking Products. This law also regulates electronic cigarettes, which are also interesting from the perspective of applying chemical regulations.
Therefore, today I am providing an overview of the most important provisions of this law that could soon be adopted.
The basic goal of adopting the new law is to protect public health, especially young people. The law tightens rules for consumption and sale of products such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
A similar law is already in force in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so it is good that issues of tobacco and other product use are regulated in the same way throughout the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
What attracts the most attention is the introduction of a smoking ban in enclosed public spaces, including hospitality facilities. Exceptions are defined: special rooms such as those at airports or in facilities that serve exclusively drinks.
This ban also applies to new tobacco products such as heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. These are particularly interesting to us because chemical regulations also apply to them, and they are defined as follows:
- "Electronic cigarette means a product that can be used to consume vapor containing nicotine or other herbal smoking products, through a mouthpiece, as well as any component part of that product, including cartridge, refill container and device without cartridge or container, and it can be disposable or refillable through refill containers or single-use cartridges."
- "Refill container is a container that contains liquid with nicotine or other herbal smoking products, which can be used to refill electronic cigarettes."
The law prescribes the obligation to notify about electronic cigarettes and refill containers at least six months before the intended placing on the market. The notification is submitted to the Commission for Control of Tobacco, Tobacco and Other Smoking Products, in electronic and written form, and should contain data prescribed by Article 12, paragraph 3 of the Law.
It is also defined that by March 31 of the current year, it is necessary to submit a report to the Commission on all electronic cigarettes and refill containers that were sold in the previous year.
As in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, detailed conditions for placing electronic cigarettes on the market are prescribed:
- liquid containing nicotine is sold exclusively in designated refill containers that do not have a volume greater than 10 ml, in disposable electronic cigarettes or in single-use cartridges, in such a way that cartridges or tanks do not exceed a volume of 2 ml,
- liquid containing nicotine must not contain more than 20 mg/ml of nicotine.
The rules for labeling, packaging and advertising electronic cigarettes are the same as in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each individual package of electronic cigarettes and refill containers must contain a leaflet with instructions for use and storage of the product.
The outer packaging must list all ingredients included in the product in descending order by mass. The nicotine content in the product and release per dose, serial number and recommendation that the product be kept out of reach of children are also stated.
Electronic cigarettes are marked with one of the following health warnings:
- "This product contains nicotine which causes strong addiction. Not recommended for use by non-smokers." or
- "This product contains nicotine which causes strong addiction."
This law prohibits the sale of oral tobacco (snus), but also nicotine pouches that are not defined in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The primary goal of such bans is to protect young people among whom these products are becoming increasingly popular. For the same reason, it was necessary to regulate electronic cigarettes that until now were not covered by applicable regulations.
The draft law provides that the Law enters into force one year from the date of publication. But if you are importers of electronic cigarettes, you can already start preparing for the application of the law. Pay attention to oversights that most often lead to product withdrawal from the market.
You can view the Draft Law on the website of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Republika Srpska (at the bottom of the page, "Drafts" section). There you can also find a form for submitting comments.
What is your opinion on this Law? Write to me at nina.pajovic@bens-consulting.eu.
Picture from Elsa Olofsson found on Unsplash.com.
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