The Moscow City Duma is preparing draft legislation to regulate electronic vaporizers in the same way as cigarettes, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.
The legislation is the initiative of City Duma Speaker Alexei Shaposhnikov who says that Russian federal law does not currently regulate the use and sale of electronic cigarettes and vaporizers, including the sale to minors.
The object of the new legislation is to include “electronic nicotine delivery devices” and “non-nicotine delivery devices” such as electronic cigarettes and hookahs.
The new law would limit the sale of such products to minors, as well as limit their use in public places. Advertisements for such products would also be limited. The City Duma Speaker also recommended that Moscow’s Department of Education prepare lectures for students on the dangers of vaping.
Shaposhnikov’s initiative already has support in the higher State Duma. Gennady Onishchenko, a State Duma deputy and former head of Russia’s consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, told the Ministry of Health in December that electronic cigarettes should be regulated in the same way as traditional cigarettes.
According to PAURRENS, a Russian association for vaping retailers, there are currently around 1.5 million users of electronic nicotine delivery systems. However, that number is increasing annually by 20-25 percent.
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