Israel Legalizes and Regulates E-Cigarettes

Israel, the country that previously had a major clash with JUUL and banned its sales, once became the focus of the vaping world. Recently, it introduced new requirements for e-cigarettes, and like Canada, these measures have been enacted through legislation.

The Israeli Ministry of Health announced a new draft regulation, the “Pharmacists Regulations (Conditions for the Manufacture and Sale of Electronic Cigarettes), 5778-2018.” The regulation prohibits the manufacture and sale of e-cigarettes and related products with nicotine levels above 20 mg/ml. This nicotine concentration limit is consistent with EU Directive 2014/40/EU.

The draft regulation requires that refill containers and refill materials may only be sold in child-resistant, break-resistant, or leak-proof packaging. The most important point is this: the regulation will prohibit the manufacture and sale of e-liquids with nicotine concentrations above 20 mg/ml. In other words, e-liquids with nicotine strengths commonly used today, such as 50 mg and 35 mg, will no longer be available in Israel.

Compared with banning e-cigarettes outright, Israel’s regulations are already much more lenient. Prohibiting nicotine e-liquids above 20 mg/ml is really more about protecting users and children from accidental ingestion, since high concentrations of nicotine can indeed be potentially fatal if swallowed by mistake.

Personally, I feel that this legislation in Israel may become part of the international trend in attitudes toward Vape.

First, concentration limits and packaging restrictions are a relatively balanced regulatory approach: neither permissive nor completely prohibitive, while also helping ensure a certain degree of nicotine safety.

Second, this legislation is not merely a domestic matter. Israel’s move has also drawn some attention from the WTO (World Trade Organization), and it will likely be noticed by more countries as well.

It remains to be seen whether this legislation will have an even greater impact than Canada’s and whether it will influence more countries’ attitudes toward Vape. We still need to learn more. In any case, this is still relatively positive news—another country has come to recognize and accept Vape.