Politics & Campaigns

NNA Responds To Scottish consultation

The New Nicotine Alliance has responded to the Scottish consultation on tightening the rules on advertising and promotion of vape products

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Last week, we detailed how the Scottish government is relying on a series of ridiculous statements to support nonsensical and dangerous proposals. Consumer charity The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) has responded to the government’s consultation document and made a submission on the related website.

The NNA believes the Scottish government’s proposals seek to place unnecessary obstacles in front of raising awareness about vaping products in Scotland.

The EU Tobacco Products Directive, which the UK ratified prior to Brexit, already stipulates bans on vaping adverts on TV, in newspapers and in magazines, but this new initiative from the Scottish government aims to treat vaping products the same as cigarettes by prohibiting in-store promotional displays as well as ads on billboards, bus stops and anywhere else currently permitted. The plans would also prohibit vape companies from sponsoring any event or activity and ban free or cut-price samples,” the NNA says.

The charity says the proposals threaten to make vape products “effectively invisible” and “would mean Scotland having the most draconian advertising regulations for vaping products in Europe.”

The NNA adds: “The Scottish government claims to be committed to a policy of being smokefree by 2034 yet are now proposing making the most effective cessation devices in recent years hidden from smokers.

In short, these proposals from the Scottish government will protect the cigarette trade by making safer alternatives less visible, less accessible, and by raising doubts in many people’s minds as to their relative risk compared with smoking.”

The NNA will be submitting a comprehensive response to this misguided set of proposals, but it is open to individuals too, so the charity is encouraging everybody to respond, and it has prepared a guide on how to do so.

Consultation details:

  • The closing date is 28th April. Be sure not to miss the deadline or your response will not be considered
  • The online form is available at this link and will not take too long to submit

If you do have time, though, we would encourage you to make good use of the opportunity to fully explain why you chose your responses in the further comments box provided for every question.”

You can also email your response to [email protected] or print the questionnaire off and send it to:

The Health (Tobacco, Nicotine etc. and Care) (Scotland) Act 2016
Consultation on Regulating Domestic Advertising and Promotion of Nicotine Vapour Products in Scotland
Tobacco Control Team
Scottish Government
St Andrews House, 3E Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

References:

Dave Cross avatar

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV
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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.

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