Philippine Government To Work With E-commerce Giants To Combat Illegal E-cigarette Sales

Philippine government to work with e-commerce giants to combat illegal e-cigarette sales

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and online shopping platforms such as Lazada, Tiktok, and Shopee jointly held a seminar to discuss joint measures to deal with illegal e-cigarette products, including strengthening law enforcement and updating online platform agreements to prevent the sale of illegal substances.

According to the Manila Standard on June 18, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the Philippines, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and representatives of online shopping platforms such as Lazada, Tiktok, and Shopee jointly hosted a seminar to explore the possibility of joint operations to combat illegal e-cigarette products.

The DTI said it would strengthen enforcement against illegal products, equip monitoring and enforcement teams with the necessary tools to ensure that offenders are punished and these products are withdrawn from the domestic market.

DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual said in a statement:

"Offenders are becoming more sophisticated and infiltrating the market through illegal vaping products. We can counter their proliferation through a people-in-one approach in collaboration with other government agencies and the private sector."

At the seminar, the two departments discussed with platform representatives the emerging trends in addictive substances both domestically and internationally, and highlighted the use of psilocybin and cannabis in food, beverages, and vaping products, both of which are on the list of controlled substances programs of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB).

The PDEA chief noted that the renewal of the memorandum of understanding with e-commerce platforms is crucial to address the current challenges.

Representatives of Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok said they are committed to working with the DTI and PDEA to combat the sale of illegal substances on their platforms.

PDEA proposed to update and revise the agreement with online platforms to better address the threat of illegal substances in the market.