India Steps Up Crackdown on Vapes, Orders 15 E-Commerce Platforms to Stop Advertising and Sales

On July 18, Indian media reported that the Ministry of Health recently issued a notice to 15 e-cigarette e-commerce platforms, demanding that they cease the sale and advertising of e-cigarettes, and requiring the operators of these websites to respond within 36 hours of receiving the notice. Official sources indicate that four of the e-commerce websites have already ceased operations, while the others have yet to respond.

According to insiders, if the aforementioned websites do not respond to the notice and fail to comply with relevant laws, the Ministry of Health will write to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, requesting the direct closure of these websites and will take appropriate legal action against them.

The report mentioned the contents of the Ministry of Health's notice as follows: We have found that, according to Article 4 of the Prohibition of E-Cigarettes Act, information related to the online advertising and sale of illegal e-cigarettes is being hosted, displayed, published, disseminated, and shared on your platform. In light of the above situation, pursuant to Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act of 2000, and based on the government notice dated November 15, 2021, the undersigned is hereby authorized to instruct you to prohibit access to and/or delete any information identified in the attached documents, without compromising any evidence in any way.

The report indicates that in addition to the 15 e-commerce websites that have received notices, the Ministry of Health is also monitoring another six e-commerce websites. Furthermore, the Ministry is closely watching advertisements and sales of e-cigarettes on social media and may soon issue notices to them.

Public records show that the Prohibition of E-Cigarettes Act in India came into effect in 2019, completely banning the production, manufacturing, import, export, transportation, sale, distribution, storage, and advertising of e-cigarettes. In May of this year, the Ministry of Health issued a notice requiring all producers, manufacturers, importers, exporters, distributors, advertisers, and transporters, including courier companies, social media websites, and online shopping sites, to strictly comply with this law regarding the direct or indirect production, procurement, or sale of e-cigarettes.