A new bill to introduce excise taxes on electronic cigarettes was drafted by Russia’s healthcare ministry, Russian news agencies reported on Friday, citing minister Veronika Skvortsova.
In the past decade, Russia has tightened tobacco sales regulations as part of a wider campaign to reduce smoking. “The manufacturers of these products are actually pulling (people) into a new malicious campaign, we need to resist,” Interfax quoted Skvortsova as saying.
According to the minister, the issue of introducing excise taxes on electronic cigarettes and nicotine-containing liquids was considered at a meeting of the Russian government on September 12.
She also noted a decrease in smoking in the country over the past few years – by a third among adults and 2.5 times among children and adolescents. At the same time, Skvortsova noted, an international study of the World Health Organization (WHO), which was conducted in Russia, showed that in 2014-2015 there were 3.5% of smokers of electronic cigarettes, and in 2019 this figure was 9%.
“In fact, the manufacturers of these products are pulling into a new malicious campaign, we need to confront this, ” Russian media cited the minister as saying.
In addition, Skvortsova expressed hope that the draft law drawn up by the department will find support.
On September 10, it was reported that the Ministry of Health of Russia instructed the chief specialist therapist of the department to study the effect of electronic cigarettes on the health of Russians and prepare relevant recommendations.
