Company Lines Up Behind Fine Call
Company joins in trade body’s call to cut off under-age vape sales at source and increase the level of fine
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by Dave Cross
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Last month, MP Adam Afriyie, the vice chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping stepped outside the bounds of accepted facts when he repeated anti-vape statements. In calling for stiffer penalties for those illegally selling to teens, the usually grounded Afriyie stated companies are using “colours and flavours” to appeal to teens.
Following Afriyie’s call, the UK Vaping Industry Association made its call to have fines increased for retailers who flout the law. The UK Vaping Industry Association provides the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping.
- The industry’s leading trade body calls for no holds barred enforcement by regulators with minimum fines of £10,000 imposed per instance on any retailer who flouts the law by selling products directly to minors and illegal non-MHRA listed vapes.
- Vape retail licensing is one option that needs to be seriously considered to support consistent and tougher enforcement across the country to stop rogue traders in their tracks
- Call comes as new reports emerge highlighting the scale of under-age sales of disposable vape products in Scotland
- Geek Bar, the UK’s leading manufacturer of disposable vapes, welcomes review of current situation
The UK Vaping Industry Association has demanded that politicians implement “no-holds barred enforcement and severe penalties” to ensure “the sale of vape products to minors is cut off at source”.
As reported last week, the industry body made its call following the announcement that the Scottish government had caught vendors selling non-MHRA approved e-liquids and serving vapes to underage customers.
The UKVIA said it wanted fines increased to a minimum of £10,000 per instance for those retailers who are caught selling directly to those under the age of 18, “to rid the industry of the scourge of rogue traders intent on making a fast buck out of kids at the expense of the safety of young people and the reputation of the wider sector.”
John Dunne, the director general of the Association said: “Enough is enough, the industry has a duty of care to young people. We need to send a strong message out to the minority of rogue retailers and wholesalers who do not care about breaking the law as they know they won’t get severely punished for doing so.
“The time has come to introduce heavy fines to deter rogue retailers from re-offending and putting vape products into the wrong hands. There needs to be consistency across the board and any regime that is introduced to stamp out under-age access to vapes needs to be applied to all retailers, including specialist vape stores and e-commerce sites, convenience stores, supermarkets and online marketplaces like E-Bay and Amazon.”
Geek Bar, one of the world’s leading disposable vape manufacturers has joined in with the call. It says it has already taken significant steps to address the sale of its products to minors including revamping all of its packaging to make absolute clear it’s an adult product. It’s also in the process of setting up a VapeWatch website where parents can report retailers who are selling disposable vape products to their children, with information passed onto Trading Standards.
Allen Yang, Chief Executive of Geek Bar, added: “We applaud and fully support the call by the UKVIA. The responsible segment of the industry has to lead by example and rid itself of those who are, and will always be, intent on breaking the law by selling vape products to those who are underage.”
Photo Credit:
Photo by Kyle Bushnell on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave 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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