A new proposal of the Ministry of Health has appeared in the list of legislative work, which provides for a ban on placing one -time electronic cigarettes on the market – both with and without nicotine, and a ban on the use of aromas in nicotin bags. The project went to public consultations. This is another regulation of the tobacco sector in recent months. Business representatives emphasize that it is regulatory chaos that affects the lack of a sense of legal certainty and investment decisions.
On June 11, a draft amendment to the Act on health care against the consequences of using tobacco and tobacco products was sent to public consultations. This is another proposal of changes in this legal act. On the same day, the Senate adopted an earlier law regarding the ban on the sale of juvenile e-cigarettes. On April 17, in turn, regulations entered into force that prohibit the sale of heated tobacco products with characteristic aromas, such as menthol or fruit. In recent months, it also appeared, among others Amendment to the excise duties, which aims to take tax on new categories of products, including one- and reusable e-cigarettes.
– In nicotine regulations, which are going on and in recent months work has been going on, the gigantic chaos is absolutely striking. On the one hand, there are voices about the total bans of some product categories, on the other hand, we have voices with additional taxation of some product categories. On the third side, there are ideas on the elimination of aromatic substances, fragrance additives to specific product categories, e.g. tobacco sachets, in which these aromatic additives are basically an essential feature of the product – emphasizes Jakub Bińkowski, director of the Department of Law and Legislation and a member of the board of the Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers in an interview with Newseria.
In the assessment of the effects of the latest proposal, the Ministry of Health refers to the information of the National Institute of Public Health PZH-the National Research Institute, according to which, since the e-cigarette e-cigarette appearance on the market, the e-cigarettes of one-time use are the most popular among young people, most often in the age range 18-24 years and younger. A significant number of users declared their first use at the age of 18, hence the actions aimed at as soon as possible and effective limitation of access to these products.
– The potential elimination of flavor and aromatic additives to nicotine sachets will most likely cause a radical reduction in the demand for these categories of products. There is a significant risk that this market segment will actually face very serious consequences. With this in mind and remembering the commitment to conduct a reasonable policy when it comes to excise goods, we appeal to re -think and revise some assumptions of this project – appeals Jakub Bińkowski.
The report “Impact of excise duty on the market of tobacco products in Poland”, developed by the Institute of Public Finance at the request of the Freedom Freedom Foundation, shows that the increase in the amount of excise duty by 10 percent. It leads to an increase in consumer expenditure on the purchase of cigarettes by approx. 1 percent, while a decrease in the number of cigarettes sold by approx. 9 percent. The tightening of the tobacco products, including the ban on the use of aromas, which will lead to the disappearance of legal products from the market, while at the same time higher excise duty may drive the increase in the gray zone.
– The policy of prohibitions very often leads to a gray zone. If we absolutely infect all alternative products such as e-cigarettes or nicotine sachets, we will most likely return to traditional tobacco products, because ordinary cigarettes will still be easily accessible to the pocket of the average Pole. I do not believe that people who have previously used alternative products will cease to use nicotine – emphasizes Anna Dela, president of the Institute of Conscious Man.
– In the tobacco sector we have a fairly good review of how historically the gray zone has shaped. We saw that When in the past over the past 15 years there have been ankle excise duty increases, the share of the gray zone in the market grew with them. However, at the moment when the excise policy began to be a bit more subdued, a little more rational, the share of the gray zone in the market fell. In this case, we can expect that exactly the same law applies – says the ZPP expert. – If we make legal products less attractive to consumers, and we can expect that on the gray, unregistered, unregulated market, goods that will not meet new standards will be on the turn of the new standards, then the risk of growth of the gray zone exists.
The ZPP expert indicates that the problem is not only more and more restrictive regulations, but also legislative chaos and the introduction of subsequent amendments one after another without consulting the industry.
– The basic problem, which often results from the regulation, is not even a problem related to what directly in them, but a problem related to the lack of a sense of legal certainty, security and a lack of public consultation. Civil society companies and stakeholders do not have a sense of influence on regulations that are shaped by the legislator. It seems clear that all regulation projects that apply, for example, to the tobacco sector, but also applies to any other sector of the economy, should be consulted with participants of this sector – emphasizes Jakub Bińkowski.
According to a member of the board of ZPP, the legislator should take into account not only the vote of the industry, but also take into account the harmfulness of tobacco products and instead of the ban introducing controlled regulation of tobacco products. Some experts are of the opinion that the strictest regulations should apply to the most harmful products, mainly cigarettes. If they are aimed at the products market, which some experts consider to be less dangerous alternatives, the interest of consumers can reverse and redirect to the more harmful ones.
– We basically have two competing approaches. The first is quite idealistic and assumes that if the state is a restrictive policy, it caused that these products will be less accessible and less attractive in taste, fragrances for consumers, then suddenly they will stop using these drugs to use it significantly. This is the approach to assuming that regulations can be shaped to shape people's behavior to a far -reaching. The second approach is more realistic and assumes that it will probably not be possible to cause that people will refrain from all risky behaviors, including stimulants, and if so, you should focus on your efforts to reduce the damage resulting from these risky behavior. This, I think, should be a key directive when it comes to state policy, i.e. rather reduction of damage and thinking about how it can be caused that these risky behaviors are less harmful – says the ZPP expert.
Other countries have already made decisions on bans on nicotine products. However, this policy did not bring the expected results.
– Australia e-cigarettes were quite limited, alternative products were available in pharmacies. As a result, there was an increase in people smoking traditional tobacco products. The same is now noted in Belgium, which introduced an e-cigarette ban, and there is also the opposite trend to the intended trend. Numerous publications show that if Poland introduces a total ban on alternative tobacco products or introduces restrictions causing that these alternatives will de facto disappear from the market, we will record an increase in traditional tobacco products – emphasizes the president of the Institute of Conscious Man.
