EU Restrictions: New Devices and E-Liquids
Spend even a little time looking into TPD2 and it quickly becomes clear: whoever drafted this stuff for Brussels didn’t really understand vaping. Some of it may make sense, but a lot of it is pure nonsense. It affects Switzerland in the sense that some people may now think twice about ordering their permitted 150 ml of nicotine e-liquid per postal shipment from the EU – while, the other way around, some vapers living near the border may come and take a look at new devices in 
Switzerland.
First of all, it’s worth knowing that TPD2 consistently uses the term e-cigarette. The word vaping doesn’t appear at all.
E-liquids
Retailers are only allowed to sell nicotine-containing e-liquid in bottles of 10 ml or less. E-liquids must carry warning labels if they contain nicotine. They also have to include extensive information leaflets, and new e-liquids may only be put on the market after toxicological testing.
Of course, consumers are the ones who will foot the bill for all this red tape. A tobacco tax on e-liquids is next, and of course it will come – you could already place bets on it. In short, retailers will be forced to raise their e-liquid prices significantly.
Box mods and other devices
New vape gear has to be notified six months before it can be launched. According to retailers in EU vaping forums, this is by no means about any technical inspections actually being carried out. It simply takes six months before new devices from China are allowed onto the European market.
In theory, vapers can of course stock up directly from Chinese sellers. However, every vaper runs the risk of customs checking the goods – and here’s the catch: if the device is being sent by post and isn’t on the list of devices already notified, customs can seize it.
That’s why, in our article “Cease-and-desist Letters to YouTubers”, we already pointed out that German retailers cannot issue cease-and-desist notices, or at least they wouldn’t get very far. After all, a YouTuber could have been given a new device by a Chinese friend who was visiting Germany, or they may have been in Thailand or Russia and bought it there – because simply presenting the device does not mean they are competing with retailers. Owning even the very latest devices remains legal in the EU! So the law only regulates sales, and it certainly does so to the disadvantage of small independent retailers, but not ownership.
For our readers from EU countries, we’re happy to link to an article by a German blogger on the topic: Should I stock up, and if so, on what! We have nothing to do with the content!
One more thing: the law heavily regulates sales, but it has nothing to do with ownership, and anyone over 18 is allowed to vape!
Still, this is bad news for retailers and, above all, it will lead to market consolidation. In principle, Chinese manufacturers would only have to notify devices six months before selling them in Europe. However, these manufacturers haven’t really understood the system, so they often don’t know what is being asked of them. Of course, wholesalers can handle this authorisation process for the manufacturers, and since everyone knows vapers love jumping on new devices, you can guess the rest.
Chinese manufacturers also won’t be keen to notify new devices before launch, simply because the competition never sleeps. Whoever is first to find a new variation for the perfect vapour and flavour will want to be the first to release it quietly!
Smaller independent retailers are likely to have a harder time in future. Independent retailers will inevitably have to join forces to minimise the cost of authorising new e-liquids. Retailers who mix their own will therefore have a problem. Or they will source from larger retailers who take care of everything for them. Either way, that’s not what a free market looks like, and the EU is playing right into the wrong people’s hands.
