Advertising and the sale of electronic cigarettes must be more regulated, ruled the Court of Appeal Monday, overturning the decision of the Superior Court. Vaping businesses will no longer be able to advertise to smokers, even one aimed at stopping tobacco consumption.
“We are delighted, it’s been a while since we waited [la décision] », Says Flory Doucas, spokesperson for the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control. The decision signed by Judge Benoît Moore takes into account “the entire population” – and not just smokers – by reiterating the risk that electronic cigarettes represent for young people, according to Mr.me Doucas.
Since 2015, vaping is subject to the Tobacco Act. Businesses must frost their windows, not advertise on the Internet or on television, and ban in-store product testing. In 2019, however, the Superior Court ruled in favor of the Association québécoise des vapoteries and the Canadian Vapotage Association, allowing them to advertise to smokers, but only that aimed at quitting smoking. The Quebec government appealed this decision.
In his decision rendered Monday, Judge Benoît Moore maintains that “it could prove difficult to advertise the electronic cigarette as a means of quitting smoking”, when it is not recognized by Health Canada. “The danger, in the long term, is that the act of smoking will be renormalized, thus weakening its social non-acceptability, which has been an important element in the regression of cigarettes in society,” he writes.
Regarding the testing of products in stores, the Court of Appeal is concerned “that freebies may be used to attract new users to electronic cigarettes, particularly young people”. Still in an effort to avoid advertising to young people, Justice Moore concludes that vaping products should not be visible from outside the store, hence the need for frosted windows.
If the current law provides a good framework for the promotion of electronic cigarettes, the next step is to “attack the products themselves”, argues Flory Doucas. “This is where there is the issue of flavors, which is the main attraction for young people,” she says. They share the vapers to taste other flavors. ”