Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the decisions of the seventh session of the Conference of Parties to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in regard to non-nicotine delivery systems.

The United Kingdom is a world leader in tobacco control and is well advanced in the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In the Autumn Statement, the Government announced legislation to require the licensing of tobacco manufacturing equipment which also takes the UK a further step forward towards ratifying the FCTC’s Illicit Trade Protocol.

In November, the seventh Conference of the Parties considered a report on e-cigarettes by the World Health Organisation and concluded that further monitoring of market developments, emerging research, development of emission testing methodology and regulatory response is required, but that Parties should be invited to regulate these products “as appropriate to their national laws and public health objectives.” The Government has already introduced a regulatory framework for these products in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and The Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015. The implementation and effect of these regulations will be monitored and the Government will examine all opportunities to maximise the health benefits of these products for smokers whilst minimising their uptake by children and non-smokers.

The Government will also shortly publish a new Plan which will set out a framework for future action on tobacco control.