Coupang to Strengthen Vape Self-Regulation from 2025

According to a report by N.News on September 4th, the South Korean e-cigarette company Coupang stated that it will strengthen self-regulation and monitoring of vape products.

Coupang plans to halt operations of e-cigarette liquid category on its open market platforms "Marketplace" and "Rocket Growth" starting from January 1, 2025. After the service operations are suspended, Coupang will monitor the product category and take measures such as halting sales if any related products are found.

Firstly, starting from the 9th of this month, Coupang will cease new product registrations, reviews, and warehouse entries in this product category. However, sales through direct procurement will continue.

Previously, major e-commerce platforms had already implemented measures to address synthetic nicotine e-cigarette liquid. Recently, Naver shopping platform has seen an increase in cases where e-liquid products with nicotine content are registered as nicotine-free. In January of this year, Naver shopping once again strengthened its related policies. Platforms such as Naver shopping, 11th Street, Gmarket, and others have all prohibited the registration of nicotine-containing products, including synthetic nicotine. However, e-cigarette liquids containing similar substances, whether nicotine or nicotine-free, are still being sold.

According to sources at Coupang,

e-cigarette liquid products are subject to strict legal restrictions on online sales and storage, but there are significant difficulties in conducting pre-audits to prevent the illegal circulation and storage of products in service operations. We are constantly supplementing policies to ensure that legal and safe products can be properly handled.

Industry insiders believe that, with the recent increase in regulatory scrutiny, Coupang has decided to cease sales of e-cigarette liquid in the open market due to the high management difficulty, and will only retain sales of self-operated products. Unlike other tobacco products, e-cigarette liquid can be sold online because in South Korea, synthetic nicotine and similar nicotine-like substances are not considered tobacco products as defined by the Tobacco Business Act. Therefore, they are not subject to taxation and are not included in the scope of warning graphic labeling, making them considered in a regulatory gray area.

An industry insider stated that...

Consensus has been reached on the need to promptly regulate e-cigarette liquids and other products sold online, as they have remained outside of existing regulations.

Officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that...

If the definition of tobacco is expanded, the regulation of current sales of synthetic nicotine and other e-cigarette liquids will be strengthened. In order to prevent youth smoking, the Ministry of Health and Welfare believes that legislative measures and self-regulatory mechanisms at the platform level are both positive steps.