Philippines Sets Deadline For E-cigarette Product Certification: Uncertified Products Will Be Seized From September 8

Philippines sets deadline for e-cigarette product certification: uncertified products will be seized from September 8

The Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines requires all e-cigarette products to complete certification before September 7 this year, otherwise the sale of uncertified products will be prohibited, aiming to ensure that products on the market meet safety standards.

According to Business Mirror on June 18, the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines recently announced that retailers, distributors, wholesalers and e-cigarette product traders are allowed to sell the remaining uncertified e-cigarette products before September 7 this year.

Leah Ann Arella, director of the Standards Compliance Department of the Philippine Bureau of Trade and Industry (DTI-BPS) said in a radio interview over the weekend that this is to give them enough time to register the remaining inventory, and after September 8, all products on the market that have not obtained e-cigarette product certification will be seized.

BPS officials made it clear that e-cigarette products that are considered certified are those that have the PS license mark for manufacturers or the Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) mark for importers. Arrera further explained,

"BPS certified products have the certification mark, PS licensed products have the PS mark. Each manufacturer has a unique license number. For importers, ICC certifies each batch of goods, we take samples from their goods for testing, and once they pass, we issue the ICC mark for each product."

According to Executive Order (DAO) 24-02, the deadline for the clearance sale of e-cigarette products was also set.

"All retailers shall clear their remaining stocks of vaping nicotine and non-nicotine products within 90 days of the effectiveness of this order."

The EO also stated that after this period, only vaping nicotine and non-nicotine products, their devices and new tobacco products with legal PS marks or ICC labels can be sold, offered for sale or distributed in the local market. The market clearance process for unregistered or uncertified e-cigarette products was initially scheduled for January 2025.

However, according to Amanda Nograles, Assistant Secretary of the DTI Consumer Protection Group, the deadline will be September 7, 2024.

The DTI recently made it clear in a statement that starting from June 5 this year, all e-cigarette products must go through the DTI registration process before entering the market.

"That is, through the PS license of the original factory or the ICC obtained during each import, these are two ways to enter."