Dubai authorities have stepped up the fight against tobacco shops illegally selling electronic cigarettes.
As part of a large-scale campaign in Dubai, a total of seven e-cigarette and vape retail stores were fined. Illegal goods were confiscated and destroyed.
Municipal inspectors seized 30 electronic cigarettes from 11 outlets, as well as 100 kg of tobacco sold in packaging that does not comply with legal requirements.
“During the campaign, as much as 100 kg of tobacco was confiscated,” said Redha Salman, head of the Public Health and Security Division of the Dubai Municipality.
This campaign confirms that the government has a strong stance against e-cigarette smoking, which was driven by the entry into force of a 100 percent tobacco tax in the fourth quarter of last year.
Selling electronic cigarettes and vapes is prohibited by law. For the first violation of the law, stores selling vapes, electronic cigarettes and liquids for them are threatened with confiscation of goods and a warning, for repeated violation of the trade institution may be fined up to half a million dirhams.
During the Dubai campaign, authorities confiscated 200 packages of flavored tobacco because the package did not indicate the origin of the product or its ingredients, or it did not contain any warning signs of the dangers of smoking, the presence of which is mandatory in accordance with legal requirements.
On the black market in the UAE, you can buy electronic cigarettes with liquid filling, bought abroad and imported into the country.
In an online survey of more than 600 smokers conducted by The National, more than half of the respondents said they tried to smoke electronic cigarettes or vapes, despite the ban on the sale of such devices in the UAE.
54 percent of those who tried electronic cigarettes said they did not consider them the equivalent of replacing regular cigarettes.
