Belgium bans tobacco vending machines in hotels nationwide

Last week, the federal government approved a bill proposed by Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke, which bans tobacco vending machines throughout the entire hotel industry. One of the main objectives of this bill is to reduce underage access and acquisition.

Since 2006, tobacco vending machines have been required to be equipped with locks that require an 'agecoin' token to be inserted, which cannot be given to minors. However, in practice, we often see these tokens being offered to anyone," said Els Van Hoof, a federal member of the Christian Democratic Party CD&V.

The bill grants an exemption for supermarkets, but emphasizes the importance of explicit age verification during checkout, even with automated scanning, requiring store employees to conduct the verification.

With this measure, Belgium will follow in the footsteps of several European countries such as the UK, France, Finland, Norway, Hungary, and the Netherlands, which have implemented this ban starting from January 1st, 2022.

Belgium officially acknowledges the potential of electronic cigarettes in smoking cessation.

Earlier this year, Belgium took a significant step towards combating smoking as the Belgian Superior Health Council officially recognized e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking and recommended their use for smoking cessation.

The proposal was released this summer, ultimately acknowledging the relative benefits of drug use. "The Council acknowledges the benefits of vaping and its role in helping smokers quit, which is good. Smoking has been proven to be one of the most successful methods for quitting smoking. Now, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke needs to follow their lead," said Michael Landl, Director of the World Vapers Alliance, a global vaping advocacy group.

Landl emphasized in a press release that the report suggests vaping is "a better alternative to smoking and can serve as an aid to quit smoking." Therefore, according to the report, "switching from traditional cigarettes to e-cigarettes initially is a good idea, but it is best to gradually stop consuming them afterwards." The report also included some vague recommendations on how to handle the flavors of e-cigarettes: the council suggests "freezing the current e-liquid market" and "investigating the impact of inhaling e-liquid.

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