Northern Ireland To Extend Smoking Ban To E-cigarettes Councillors Fear New Tobacco Laws Could Trigger Black Market Trade

Northern Ireland to extend smoking ban to e-cigarettes Councillors fear new tobacco laws could trigger black market trade

The Northern Ireland Assembly has voted to include new tobacco and e-cigarette legislation in the UK, banning people born after 2009 from buying tobacco products and extending the ban to e-cigarettes. Lawmakers fear it could trigger the closure of underground markets and vape shops.

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly have voted to include Northern Ireland in the UK's new tobacco and e-cigarette legislation, despite questions about whether the legislation could be implemented in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework. The new bill follows one introduced by the Conservative government before the general election.

Under the proposal, people born after January 1, 2009, would be banned from buying tobacco products. The bill also includes a provision allowing for the introduction of a retail licensing system in the future to replace the current registration system. At the same time, existing rules on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and brand sharing will be extended to cigarette paper, herbal smoking products, e-cigarette products and other nicotine products. The legislation also allows for the development of regulations to extend smoke-free regulations in public outdoor Spaces to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.

In the case of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, the bill would ban vending machines and other forms of sales of these products to minors, as well as their advertising and sponsorship, and ban free distribution. The tobacco Retailers Register will be extended to include retailers of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said last year's vote had supported Northern Ireland joining the Tobacco and e-cigarette Bill, but it did not happen due to the dissolution of Parliament.

Rep. Gerry Carroll of the People First Party opposed the bill, calling it a "dangerous move" away from a public health approach and comparing it to prohibition in the United States in the 1920s, fearing it could push tobacco into the underground market.

DUP MP Alan Robinson expressed concern that the legislation could be incompatible with the post-Brexit Windsor Framework and could lead to a string of vape shops closing. He noted that adult smokers using e-cigarettes to try to quit isn't a bad thing, and that laws that lose legal e-cigarette offerings could backfire.