Romanian Parliament Passes New Tobacco Products Law Prohibiting Youth E-cig Use

According to local Romanian media Capital, on February 27th, the Romanian Chamber of Deputies unanimously passed a new bill amending and supplementing tobacco product regulations. The main goal of the bill is to restrict children and adolescents' access to tobacco products and expand the ban on sales from vending machines. The new regulations include prohibiting the sale of e-cigarettes, e-cigarette refill pods, and heated tobacco devices to minors under the age of 18. Once signed by President Iohannis, the bill will become national law.

The bill also requires educational institutions to implement mandatory measures against students who violate regulations regarding the purchase, possession, and use of tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco devices in their regulations. One amendment proposes to ban the sale of oral nicotine pouches that do not comply with the law. Under the new amended law, the maximum nicotine content allowed in each oral nicotine pouch cannot exceed 20mg.

Another amendment passed prohibits smoking and the use of the following products at all schools: e-cigarettes, e-cigarette pods, heat-not-burn tobacco devices, smokeless tobacco products, and oral nicotine pouches.

According to the legislation, sellers can require customers to show identification to verify the age of the purchaser. Additionally, under the provisions of the law, the severity of the offense will result in fines reaching up to 100,000 Lira (approximately $21,815).

The responsibility of enforcing regulations and imposing penalties will be entrusted to personnel authorized by the Ministry of Health and the National Consumer Protection Authority, as well as representatives from local police or the Ministry of Interior. Romania is one of the first countries in the European Union to implement a ban on the sale of products to minors.

British American Tobacco has expressed its support for this decision.