Vaping regulations set to change in the EU parliament?

The latest European Union elections will bring about a total change in the Parliament structure. These changes will have consequences for any law applied at the continental level. The situation for electronic cigarettes is inexplicably vague in terms of EU directives, and these could be impacted by the change.

This represents a real paradigm shift in the wake of the recent election results. For the first time, the two main left and right parties totalled less than half of all seats. This means a more fragmented parliament, with more range and diversity in trends and opinions, will be making decisions.

In the last few years, the significant political power of corporate lobbies caused serious issues when voting in certain laws. Big Tobacco until now had many allies in the parliament seats. This new structure could change the game, and improve legislation on the subject of vaping.

A stick in the wheels of the tobacco lobby?

Of course, an increase in the diversity of groups will make the work of lobbyists increasingly more difficult. Also, pro-vaping elects from smaller parties will have a better chance of having their ideas heard. The question of vaping could be seen in a more favourable light at the EU level.

Now the big question is the upcoming Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Putting vaping in the same bag as cigarettes, the new framework will cover all tobacco products and alternatives. There has been no information specifically on the subject of e-cigs for the moment. First, we will have to wait for a new EU Commission president to be elected to know more.

For now, there have been no statements on the subject of a vaping ban. So e-cig users won’t have to worry about that for the time being. The real hot topic is vaping taxation, and potential anti-smoking measures that will be developed in the coming months, and may include e-cigarettes.