Regulation of electronic cigarettes

The Health Ministry has drawn up changes to tobacco legislation to further restrict access to tobacco and nicotine products, a move welcomed by public health experts.

In a bid to crack down on the illegal trade in tobacco, the government is designing a new system that will issue products with unique traceability codes that will accompany each packet from the phase of production, through marketing and up until it reaches consumers.

Turkey 25 banned the import of e-cigarettes and related products, a presidential decree published on the Official Gazette showed on Feb. 25.

The ban covers all kinds of products used for electronic smoking, including e-cigarette devices, accessories, spare parts, and solutions.

The US government has announced that it will soon ban most of the flavoured e-cigarettes in an attempt to curb the growing number of young people who use them. However, the total ban promised by President Donald Trump in September will not be necessary, AFP reported.

The US Congress has decided to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21 years across the country, France Press reported.

The change passed by the Senate is part of a measure made to the budget bill. It will enter into force in about nine months.

A second US state has banned flavoured e-cigarettes.

New York complied with data linking the deaths of several people with the use of a product advertised as safer than smoking.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said an emergency law would be used to ban flavoured e-cigarettes.

San Francisco intends to become the first American city to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes. The measure is part of the effort to reduce smoking among young people.

In 2017, more than 487 billion cigarettes were produced in the European Union - 40 billion less compared to the previous year, according to Eurostat data published today on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, BNR reported.

2017 Production's worth is about € 4.9 billion, which is with € 1.3 billion less than 2016.

From today - 20 May, a European Union regulation which establishes a traceability system for each box of cigarettes enters into force.

Each box of cigarettes manufactured or imported in Bulgaria must have a unique code which will allow its tracing to follow from the production to the customer.