新西兰议会正在拟定明智、平衡的电子烟法规，旨在帮助成年吸烟者改用电子烟，同时限制青少年吸烟。

拟议条例由卫生委员会于今天发布，并将提交议会审议。

法规承认，电子烟产品比烟草具有更低的健康风险。它们旨在促进电子烟的使用并保障电子烟产品的安全及质量。对电子烟与烟草的监管也不同。

这一明智的举措与澳大利亚的电子烟办法完全相反。

虽然基于对青少年吸烟的过度谨慎，拟议的法规并不完整，但是，新西兰近期对14至15岁的青少年进行的一项调查发现，经常吸烟的年轻人很少，电子烟民还是主要限于当前的吸烟者。

•卫生委员会建议全面禁止电子烟产品广告宣传，以避免接触到青少年。同时建议寻求更加细微的宣传方式。

•限制某些电子烟口味的销售，避免青少年吸食，但这也将减少电子烟民获得其偏爱的电子烟油机会。

电子烟专卖店

电子烟专卖店将能够为顾客提供全面的服务。店内可显示电子烟的产品及信息，员工可以向顾客提供抽烟建议。

电子烟商店可以出售各种口味的电子烟，且18岁以上的成年人可以在店内抽烟。

电子烟非专卖店

杂货店和不专门从事电子烟销售的其他商店可以销售电子烟产品，但仅限于烟草，薄荷和薄荷醇口味。这种预防措施是为了减少青少年的接触。此规定同样适用于电子烟线上商店，即没有实体店的网店。

通知系统

为了确保电子烟产品的安全，生产商和进口商在发布每种产品之前需要通知卫生部。卫生部会将所有产品详细信息存储在数据库中，以便在需要时及时召回有缺陷或不安全的产品。

New Zealand leads the way with new vaping regulations

NEW ZEALAND Parliament is moving forward with sensible, balanced vaping regulations designed to help adult smokers switch to vaping while restricting access to young people.

The proposed regulations were released by the Health Committee today and will be presented to Parliament for consideration.

The regulations acknowledge that vaping products  have lower health risks than smoking. They are designed to facilitate the uptake of vaping and to ensure safer, quality vaping products.  Vaping will be regulated differently to tobacco.

This sensible approach is quite the opposite of the Australia’s approach to vaping.

The proposed regulations are not perfect though. Some restrictions are based on excessive caution about youth vaping. However, a recent New Zealand study of 14-15 year olds found that regular youth vaping was rare and mainly confined to current smokers.

· The Health Committee recommended a total ban on all advertising of vaping products to avoid exposure to young people. A more nuanced approach would have been better.

· Restrictions on flavour sales (below) are also a response to concerns about youth uptake but will reduce access for vapers to their preferred e-liquids.

Specialist vape shops

Vape shops will be able to provide a full service to customers. Vaping products and information can be displayed and staff can give advice and recommendations to customers.

Vape shops can sell a full range of flavours and people over 18 years can vape on the premises

Non-specialist shops

General stores and other businesses which do not specialise in vaping can sell vaping products but are restricted to tobacco, mint, menthol flavours only. This precaution is to reduce access to young people. The same applies to online-only vape retailers ie websites without a bricks and mortar store.

Notification system

To ensure the safety of vaping products, manufacturers and importers need to notify the Ministry of Health prior to release of each product. All products details will be stored in a database allowing faulty or unsafe products to be recalled if needed.