Two years after entering the Russian market, the American manufacturer of electronic cigarettes Juul may be forced to curtail operations in the country. The new version of the bill on regulating the circulation of electronic means of delivery of nicotine (ISDN) prohibits the sale of devices with liquids, the proportion of nicotine that exceed 20 mg. At Juul figure reaches 50 mg. Negative reaction of participants to the document is to be expected: they call the proposed restrictions scientifically unfounded and fear that it will encourage consumers to switch to traditional cigarettes.A modified version of the bill on the regulation of ESDN introduces a ban on the sale of devices with liquids, the proportion of nicotine which is more than 20 mg. a Copy of the document is in “b”. According to sources, “Kommersant” on the market, this option, the state Duma plans to approve the second reading before the end of this week. The bill was developed by a group of senators headed by Valery Ryazanskiy and passed on first reading at the end of 2019. The original version was imposed on Smoking alternative means to the same restrictions on cigarettes, with the exception of the ban on the layout of the Windows and spread on promotions. Then in the state Duma a number of amendments, and the document is repeatedly copied.The most controversial issue was equating ISDN to cigarettes, or a separate regulation of alternative Smoking tools. State-legal Department (GPU) presidential administration in its opinion, deemed it expedient option to separate regulations (see “Kommersant” on June 1). The point about the limitation of the maximum permissible share of nicotine in the liquids contained in one of the variants of the amendments, but the GPU this measure is not supported. Despite this, in the final version of the measure is preserved.Deputy Director on scientific work and innovations of the all-Russian scientific research Institute of tobacco, makhorka and tobacco products Eugene Gnuchev says that in 2018 the Russian market was not liquid, the proportion of nicotine which would exceed a 20 mg. Now there are products where the proportion of nicotine is 50 mg, the largest player — American Juul, she points out.Produces electronic cigarettes under the same brand Juul entered the Russian market in 2018. The share of liquid nicotine in these devices is 50 mg, confirmed on the website of the company.The adoption of the bill in the modified version will either force Juul to leave the Russian market, or forced to reduce the proportion of nicotine in their devices, says Kommersant’s source in the tobacco market. He recalled that earlier, due to the high nicotine content electronic cigarette Juul was banned in Israel.As a result of lower concentrations of nicotine in liquid for e cigarette ESDN not be able to compete with conventional and��to grant a sufficient amount of nicotine to satisfy smokers, the fear of the CEO Juul Labs in Russia Viktor Ukrainian. In his opinion, this will lead to a reduction in the rate of transition to a potentially less harmful alternative products and may cause ex-smokers to return to cigarettes. Juul’s share on the Russian market ESDN and tobacco market the company did not disclose.The alleged ban could affect and Russia’s largest manufacturer of traditional cigarettes — Japan Tobacco International (JTI, brand, Winston, Camel, etc.). The company sells electronic Logic device Compact, the proportion of nicotine which is in the range from 10.5 to 50 mg. Director for relations with authorities of JTI in Russia Vasily Gruzdev considers restrictions scientifically unfounded. In his opinion, the issue of nicotine refers to the technical regulation, and not to the laws governing the circulation of products.The final version of the bill also includes a total ban on sales in Russia securitising-nicotine products — nikakav. Earlier it was supposed to allow their sale only in pharmacies. Director of Department for work with state bodies “BAT Russia” in the portfolio which has nikaki LYFT, Oleg Barvin warns that in the case of prohibition, the products will be delivered to Russia illegally.Maria Kotova
