THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has intensified its operations against the illegal sale of vape products, particularly to students and minors.
“[W]e are working double time on our enforcement operations to prevent the sale of vape to minors – that is our duty. Also, we will continue to work with our partner agencies and stakeholders to ensure that violators of RA 11900 and its IRR are penalized accordingly,” DTI Secretary Fred Pascual said on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
The DTI said it has confiscated over 18,000 non-compliant vape products valued at approximately P5.5 million.
The DTI has also issued notices of violations (NOVs) and show-cause orders (SCOs) to 269 physical stores and 61,000 SCOs to online vape stores.
According to the DTI, they have issued NOVs and SCOs to retailers for failing to verify the age of buyers and for selling vape products that are packaged, labeled, presented, or marketed with flavor descriptors that unduly appeal to minors, such as the use of cartoons, anime, manga, animated characters, youth influencers, and personalities.
The agency mandates them to submit a written explanation within 48 hours of their receipt of SCOs and NOVs.
More than 200 formal charges have been filed with the DTI, and administrative fines have been imposed on decided cases.
Republic Act No. 11900 or the “Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act,” which lapsed into law in 2022, transferred the regulation of vapes under the DTI from the Food and Drug Administration. It also lowered the age of sale from 21 to 18.
Before the enactment of the new vape bill, existing regulations disallowed flavored vapes and the sale of the product to anyone aged 21 and below. (ABS-CBN News)
