INDIA
Banning e-cigarettes in India will increase smuggling of such products, which have no assurance of source and quality standards, says the Tobacco Institute of India (TII).
The trade association also said prohibition of e-cigarettes would put India at “an enormous structural disadvantage versus countries that have espoused a balanced regulatory policy approach on the category”.
E-cigarettes witness increasing consumer acceptance in India as they have globally, the agency said in a statement: “A ban on legal business in ENDS [electronic nicotine delivery systems] will pose a serious threat of illicit trade and large scale smuggling of these products in the country with no assurance of source and quality standard.”
According to TII, prohibition would benefit illegal trade operators and promote foreign products owned by overseas entities in the absence of any domestic competition to challenge the illegal trade in these products.
TII also said that if a ban were to be imposed on e-cigarettes, the domestic industry would stop all research and innovation in this area, and this would put India at a disadvantage against countries which would not have prohibited e-cigarettes.
“Therefore, all latent and emerging consumer demand for the product in the country would be met through the illicit route,” TII claimed.