Slovakia Plans To Ban The Sale Of Flavored Nicotine And Disposable Electronic Cigarettes, Violators May Face High Fines

Slovakia plans to ban the sale of flavored nicotine and disposable electronic cigarettes, violators may face high fines

Slovakia plans to ban the sale of flavored nicotine products and disposable electronic cigarettes, aiming to reduce the incentives for minors to smoke. At the same time, it proposes to limit the sales rewards of tobacco products, and violators may face fines of up to 50000 euros.

According to Teraz's report on November 8th, the Slovak government is considering banning the sale of flavored nicotine products and disposable electronic cigarettes. This proposal was submitted to the Slovak National Assembly (NR) by members of the ruling Social Democratic Party (Smer SD).

The legislators pointed out that the regulation aims to reduce the opportunities for minors to easily access electronic cigarettes, which has been confirmed by the inspection results of the Slovak Trade Inspection Office (SOI). For this reason, they suggest banning the sale of these popular products among teenagers, but exempting mint, menthol, and tobacco flavors. They explained that certain flavors that are not sought after by teenagers have smoking cessation significance for adult consumers, and young people often prefer fruit, sweet, and candy flavors.

In addition, disposable electronic cigarettes have also been proposed to be banned because these products are popular among the younger generation and pose a huge environmental burden. Therefore, they suggest not allowing the use of attractive elements such as cartoons, stickers, and patterns like food, cosmetics, or toys on packaging.

Regarding the sale of conventional tobacco products, lawmakers propose to prohibit providing any economic benefits to consumers. According to the proposal, businesses selling smokeless tobacco and related products will not be allowed to provide rewards and gifts that are not directly related to these products.

The current law may be further expanded to allow fines to be imposed on individual businesses or legal entities that violate sales bans or restrictions, and violators may face fines of up to 50000 euros.