TW's legal challenge remains the best, indeed the only way to remove electronic cigarettes from the TPD.
The TPD is about Tobacco Control and the use of nicotine by any means, oral, vapour or smoking, is the target. Vaping is part of the problem not part of the solution as far as they're concerned. Misguided zealots!
I doubt that such a fundamental shift is now possible ... picking the bones out of this and that within TPD2 isn't going to do much good, if any.
I sensed a potential wedge when reading the Counterfactual, point 23 on page 7 of the Impact Assessment document. They're crying out for more information about vaping here. An opportunity for some UK implementation variation?
A few numbers which jumped out at me:-
£2.2 billion - the expected reduction in annual revenue for HMRC
£13 billion - the expected financial gain from the additional life years of smokers quitting
1.6% - the expected reduction in the population who are smoking
This strikes me as low, unambitious, trivial and ineffective ... wouldn't they be better off just letting people decide for themselves to vape instead of smoke? Vaping has had a similar effect without any intervention.
The EU directive is above national law, al member states must obey it. The only choice is if the minimum is imposed (which would destroy vaping as we know it, leaving us with cigalikes and maybe new poorly-performing BT devices).
The EU created a nonsense directive because they only listened to ANTZ and good ecig science was only just starting.
Everybody, vaper, smoker, non-smoker, who has any knowledge should complete the impact assessment if there is any hope of the lightest touch allowed, remembering that the MHRA will be responsible organisation in the UK.
So, notification is expensive but much better than authorisation.
It seems that one stupid, impossible part of the TPD isn't mentioned. Deliberate or not, I'd not point that out.
Also it seems that the government thinks that 60& of ecigs used are cigalikes. That was true a few years ago, but now most start with 2nd gen at least. They need the true figures for sales of different device types because their data collection through VAT receipts won't show what is selling and working.
It is time for everybody to accept that this IS happening and WILL be law unless TW succeed in court.
Please, everybody, sign up to supporting the legal challenge regardless of your feelings about TW. They are the only people challenging the legality of the TPD.
Please, everybody, complete the government impact assessment. You don't have to answer all questions, and those directly concerning ecigs are labelled. You can save the form if you can't do it in one go and carry on later.
That's what I've done as I'm putting a lot of thought into my comments.
The more who complete this, the better the chance of us having something to vape even if it a tiny amount of what we have now.
For those who think they're OK as they stockpiled, think of denying smokers the opportunity to stop smoking we had. Also, none of the ingredients last for ever even if frozen. Zero nic vaping will be no different as the definition of an ecig is 'a device or component part that is capable of vaporising nicotine' even if it is always used for zero nic.
The most we can do is try to persuade the government they should do the minimum required by EU law.
Incidentally, I read the 'draft' as saying that claiming vaping is safer than smoking makes that device medical, needing medical authorisation. So it would be illegal to tell the truth.
