Gujarat House passes bill to ban sale, import of e-cigarettes

The Gujarat Assembly Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to ban manufacture, sale, import and advertisement of electronic cigarettes in the state.

The legislation proposes jail term and also fine for those violating the ban on e-cigarettes.

Tabling the amendment bill in the House, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said addiction to e- cigarettes, which are easily available and bought online in absence of prohibition on their sale, are harmful for youths.

Through the bill, the state government has brought e- cigarettes under the purview of the 'Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act' (COTP).

The bill was passed unanimously with members of the ruling BJP and opposition Congress extending support to the legislation.

It proposes a total ban on sale, manufacture, import, distribution, trade and advertisement of e-cigarettes in the state.

Violation of the ban would attract a maximum jail term of three years, but not less than one year, said Jadeja, adding offenders are also liable to pay a fine of up to Rs 50,000, but not less than Rs 20,000.

Notably, the bill does not propose any ban on the consumption of these products, which are also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). E-cigarettes are nicotine-delivery devices that aerosolise nicotine and flavour chemicals through heating.

In his address, Jadeja said 12 states in India and 30 countries have banned e-cigarettes.

The minister said e-cigarettes contain various hazardous chemicals such as propylene glycol and lead, which can cause cancer and lung diseases.

"This is a dangerous form of addiction which is becoming popular among youths and even young children. Since e-cigarettes were not covered under the COTP Act, they were freely available in the market.

"Now, we are amending the Act so as to put a ban on manufacture, sale, distribution, trade, import and advertisement of e-cigarettes in Gujarat," said Jadeja.

The House also unanimously passed two more bills during the sitting.

They are - 'The Gujarat Prevention of Begging (Amendment) Bill and 'The Indian Partnership (Gujarat Amendment) Bill.

While the first bill proposes to delete mentions of 'leprosy patients' from the contents of the original bill, the second one proposes a minor increase in the fees charged by the government for the registration of partnership firms.