On November 22nd, new legislation was introduced (Bill S-5) that proposes significant changes to the Tobacco Act to institute regulation of vaping products and implement other changes to the regulation of tobacco products.
As discussed in a past blog post, earlier this fall the federal government announced an intention to implement regulation of vaping products. This newly introduced draft legislation provides the framework of that regulatory regime by way of the newly named Tobacco and Vaping Products Act.
Under this Act, a vaping product would be defined as:
- a device that produces emissions in the form of an aerosol and is intended to be brought to the mouth for inhalation of the aerosol;
- a device that is designated to be a vaping product by the regulations;
- a part that may be used with those devices; and
- a substance or mixture of substances, whether or not it contains nicotine, that is intended for use with those devices to produce emissions.
The proposed amended Act would prohibit the acts of sending, delivering or furnishing a vaping product to a young person. Advertising of vaping products would be subject to various restrictions including with respect to sales promotions, lifestyle advertising and advertising that could be appealing to young persons. It would also restrict the use of flavouring ingredients in vaping products.
The amendments propose that the particulars of vaping product oversight would be implemented by way of yet-unpublished regulations. These regulations would prescribe, among other things:
- Standards to which vaping products must conform
- Information to be submitted by manufacturers about vaping products, their emissions and related research
- What vaping information manufacturers and the Minister of Health shall make available to the public
- What information must be included on the product and the packaging of vaping products
Interestingly, although vaping products are often cited as an effective part of a smoking cessation program, the proposed Act prohibits promotion of health benefits of vaping products or comparisons of the health effects of vaping products and tobacco products.
Vaping products will be expressly subject to the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act and therefore subject to the product safety, incident reporting and record keeping requirements thereunder.
We will continue to monitor this Bill and provide updates as developments arise.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
