News24 | Vaping industry unconvinced by new tobacco bill changes

The Vapour Products Association of South Africa has continued its call that cigarettes and vaping products should be treated differently under the new tobacco laws.

• The Vapour Products Association of South Africa has continued to express its concerns about the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery System Control Bill, saying the Department of Health has still failed to recognise vaping products as a harm-reduction tool.
• This week, the Department of Health said it would be willing to introduce concessions to help pass the bill through Parliament, including treating non-combustible and combustible products differently for plain packaging and graphic health warnings.
• VPASA said it was concerned that the same punishments would be introduced for vape and cigarette smokers if the bill were passed.
• For more financial news, go to News24 Business.

The Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA) has continued to voice its concerns over the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery System Control Bill, saying that the bill does not distinguish between traditional cigarette and vape smokers.

Despite the Department of Health telling lawmakers this week that it would change regulations in the bill to ease packaging rules – including graphic health warnings – for non-combustible products like vapes, the association said the department has continued to fail in recognising vapes as a “harm reduction tool”.

“VPASA notes the department’s proposal to introduce clearer differentiation between combustible and non‑combustible products because differentiation acknowledges vaping products as a distinct regulatory category and avoids misleading public health messaging that may discourage smokers from switching to less harmful alternatives,” it said in a written response to News24.

The legislation, introduced as far back as 2022, aims to regulate the use, marketing, advertising, and trade of tobacco products and electronic delivery systems, including e-cigarettes and vaping pods.

If passed, the bill would enforce jail time and heavy fines for cigarette and vape manufacturers, sellers and users for offences including smoking in public, selling products to minors, and disturbing neighbours in private dwellings.

READ | New smoking, vaping law to seek jail time of up to 20 years for some offences

Organisations like the VPASA have continued to oppose the bill in its current form, saying that “product-specific regulations” should be introduced.

It told News24: “Several provisions in the bill remain of serious concern and must be revisited, including the fact that the bill currently applies uniform penalties across all product categories, without accounting for differing harm profiles. VPASA maintains that penalties applicable to combustible tobacco products should not be imposed identically on responsible suppliers of non‑combustible alternatives.”

In a portfolio committee meeting this week, the Department of Health’s deputy director-general for primary health care, Jeanette Hunter, said the department was willing to make trade-offs and concessions to move the legislative process on the bill – including changes to packaging and graphic health warnings for non-combustible products.

According to Hunter, the bill would reduce the burden on SA’s health sector by decreasing illness caused by smoking, improve the health of South Africans, and benefit the economy.

The department has also pushed back against the harm reduction theory, saying that nicotine was still unsafe, addictive and could cause severe health risks. It also said that separate legislation was not needed for individual tobacco products, adding that countries like Sweden, Canada, the UK and New Zealand have put all products under one act.

Meanwhile, the portfolio committee still needs to vote on the desirability of the bill this year. It has also held several public hearings on the bill between 2023 and 2025, during which 7 900 people participated and 1 113 oral submissions were made.

According to oral submissions, public sentiment on the bill has been mixed, with 44.9% supporting, 44.5% opposing, and 1.3% partially supporting. About 9.3% of the submissions did not declare their position on the bill.

*The news of the Department of Health being willing to change packaging rules for non-combustible products was first reported by Business Day.