The two tobacco laws that came into force on Tuesday, the LTab and the LPtab, are considered unsuitable by vaping professionals. Some health experts are also skeptical because taxes on cigarettes have not increased.
Two laws came into force this Tuesday: the Tobacco Taxation Act (LTab) and the Tobacco Products Act (LPtab). These two texts aim to protect people from the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine consumption, in particular by limiting access to nicotine products to minors and by increasing prices. This legislation includes vapes and disposable electronic cigarettes.
A legal vagueness
Surprise: if until now, in vape shops, the person behind the counter mixed the liquid base, the aroma and the nicotine, it would now be up to customers to do it. Contacted by the program We are talking about it, the Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) denies this information.
However, on the side of traders, the instructions are as follows: no more “house” mixes from October 1st. For Mikael Baldelli, owner of the Shifters store in Lausanne, “we are no longer supposed to modify a customer’s product. We can open the bottles for them, but it is up to them to put their nicotine booster in the bottle.” The bottles are therefore sold separately from now on.
The confusion could come from an article of law regarding product labeling. The conditions, which are complicated to satisfy, would de facto prevent sellers from mixing, even if the law does not formally prohibit it.
A heavy tax
Another measure, the bottles sold must not contain more than 10 ml of liquid, with a maximum concentration of 20 mg of nicotine per milliliter. The tax is 20 cents per milliliter, or two francs more per bottle. According to the French-speaking group for studies and addictions (GREA)the average price of a 10 ml bottle would therefore increase from 6.50 francs to 8.50 francs, an increase of 30%. Disposable electronic cigarettes will also be taxed, but at 1 franc per milliliter.
Vaping less attractive in favor of cigarettes
Vaping is often presented as a less harmful alternative to smoking. With the price of tobacco remaining unchanged, this new legislation appears to some players in the sector to be counterproductive. “With these laws, the State is slowing down our work. The supply will be reduced and vaping will be less interesting for smokers,” specifies Mikael Baldelli.
For Camille Robert, co-secretary of GREA, if introducing a tax for vaping was fair, it would also have been necessary to increase taxes on cigarettes in order to maintain the price gap between the two products. “In terms of public health, it’s an error,” she explains in the program On en parole on October 2.
For her, this is a “misunderstanding on the part of Parliament of the real implications.” The specialist also mentions the tobacco lobby, which is said to be at work and which “has every interest in people continuing to buy its products rather than turning to vaping.”
Radio subject: Catherine Rüttimann
Web adaptation: Myriam Semaani
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