Bureaucratic farce: vape mail-order sales banned in Austria
In Austria, the clocks seem to tick a little differently – and because of that, lawmakers are apparently happy to use legislation as an excuse to ignore the 21st century altogether. As part of the 
new EU tobacco law, shipping vaping products in Austria was simply banned back in May 2016.
An Austrian online retailer challenged the law, and the ruling is now in. Mail-order sales remain banned because they “serve the interests of consumer and youth protection”. In plain English: responsible adults need to be protected from themselves, and teenagers in Austria don’t always look 20 when they’re 16 or 17! So they can’t simply run to the nearest kiosk and stock up. And apparently they don’t reach for a regular cigarette first either; what they’re really desperate to do is fill tanks with e-liquid.
But that’s not all a court like this can come up with – it gets even better. Quote: “... the addiction and health-risk potential associated with e-cigarettes, as well as their particular appeal to beginners.” How exactly does the court arrive at the claim that vaping is especially appealing to beginners? Are the judges on these benches all people who have never smoked? Do they not realise that opening a pack of cigarettes is far simpler than charging a battery, filling a tank and, above all, remembering the 5-click lock?
And what about the statistics clearly showing that less than 1 percent of vapers had never smoked before? What exactly does the court base this supposed risk potential on? This is the real kicker – of course it’s pinned on propylene glycol, of all things! So according to the Austrian judiciary, anyone who vapes is basically shoving toothpaste up their nose?
By the way, this ruling didn’t come from some provincial court – it came from the Austrian Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country.
Austria’s kiosk owners will be delighted – they’ve got a nationwide monopoly!
You can read the original court ruling here
