Online portal launched to report violation of ban on e-cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes continue to be sold on e-commerce sites, even to children below 18, warn experts working in the area of tobacco control

The ban on electronic cigarettes was introduced to protect our younger generation from a new form of toxic addiction. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Despite the ban imposed by the Union government in 2019, e-cigarettes continue to be sold on e-commerce sites, even to children below 18, warn experts working in the area of tobacco control. Now to curb this, the Health Ministry has launched an online portal to facilitate reporting of violations under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act (PECA).

The portal, www.violation-reporting.in, will allow faster action against any reported violations, the government said.

 “The ban on electronic cigarettes was introduced to protect our younger generation from a new form of toxic addiction. It’s a welcome move by the Health Ministry to launch the online portal for strict enforcement, implementation and to ensure the ban is effective,” Binoy Mathew, programme manager, Voluntary Health Association of India, said.

The Ministry had earlier cautioned all States and Union Territories about the weak implementation of PECA, leading to easy availability of e-cigarettes through online, retail, convenient stores, stationery shops and near educational institutions.

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The States were also directed to review the compliance of PECA and issue necessary instructions for effective implementation of the provisions of the Act, through special drives and random checking in schools and colleges.

“Health Ministry also issued a public notice in view of e-cigarettes ban violations and its availability in the Indian market,’‘ Ranjit Singh, advocate Supreme Court of India, said.

Electronic cigarettes and similar devices are battery-operated systems that heat a substance (in liquid or solid state), which contains nicotine and often flavours, to create an aerosol for inhalation.  

The Union government, considering the harmful effects of electronic cigarette and the alarming rise in its prevalence among youth, prohibited the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement, of electronic cigarettes, which include all forms of electronic nicotine delivery systems, heat not burn Products, e-hookah and the like devices, by whatever name called and whatever shape, size or form it may have, vides the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act, 2019, which was introduced as an Ordinance and later formalised into an Act in 2019.