While some member states like Bulgaria keep a more liberal stance regarding the sale of tobacco products others like its next-door neighbor Romania take a more serious approach to curb the use of e-cigarettes and tobacco based products by minors. Romania recently banned the sale of vapour products to anyone under the age of 18. The law which came into force this March prohibits the explicit sale of various tobacco-related products, including electronic cigarettes, electronic cigarette refills, electronic tobacco heaters and nicotine pouches to minors, subject to fines of up to 100,000 RON (around €20,000).
Under the new law, authorities have already imposed fines of over €7,000 to vendors caught breaking the law. The move was welcomed by representatives of the local tobacco industry. It is a sign of normality to better inform the public and ban the sale of electronic cigarettes and nicotine based products to anyone under the age of 18, Ileana Dumitru, a BAT representative, recounted.
With the new law in place Romania becomes part of a limited number of EU member states prohibiting the sale to minors of all products with nicotine, but also of electronic cigarettes without nicotine. According to the conducted in 2017 the consumption of conventional cigarettes has decreased among young people in Romania, but the percentage of students aged 13-15 who have tried at least one tobacco product, including heated tobacco products, increased by 7.5% between 2014 and 2017.
In Ireland.
