The term ‘Brexit’ describes the retraction of the United Kingdom from the European Union on January 31, 2020, at 23:00 (Greenwich Meridian Time). This consensus that the United Kingdom came to with the European Union has several effects on general trade regulations. The focus here, however, is the effect that Brexit has on the manufacture of e-liquid.
Considering that the vaping industry, even though it has blown up in recent years and is projected to expand even further, can be said to be of little consequence in the big picture, the future of vaping, in the light of Brexit, enters into the thought-world of the consumers and manufacturers of e-liquid.
The major concern is what the UK’s withdrawal from the EU will mean for the nation’s compliance with the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).
The United States of America, the United Kingdom, and France have been recognized as the three nations with the largest number of vaping companies.
The EU came up with the Tobacco Products Directive and the United Kingdom was most likely its largest vape-producing Member State. Since the UK withdrew from the EU, questions have arisen about what their level of compliance to the Directive will be.
The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR), enacted in 2016, was a mirror that enforced regulations according to the EU’s TPD. Since the body commenced independent operations after Brexit, strong critics of the TPD now look to the TRPR for some flexibility.
It’s hard to specifically tell what the impact of Brexit will be on the manufacturers of e-liquid, but projections can be made according to the trends that have been noticed.
The rules and regulations guiding the economy of the UK have seen some changes after their withdrawal from a body they were engrafted into for long.
The quality of the inflow and outflow of vape products from the UK would have constituted a major concern for the government if something that takes the place of what they withdrew from was not already in place―the TRPR.
Health organizations in the UK have expressed their support for vaping; they assert that it can serve as a medium through which traditional smokers can quit smoking.
Even though these developments seem to be in favor of the vaping community in the UK and vapers are happy about it, there’s also the fear that the relaxation of the TPD regulations through a revision of the TRPR could encourage some local and international brands to introduce more addictive products to the market.
What Brexit means for e-liquid manufacturers and consumers in the UK seems to tend towards an outcome that will satisfy the vaping community therein, as will be determined by a review of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR).
This satisfaction might also extend to countries that the UK exports its vaping products to if the UK’s independence from the European Union, through the TRPR births vaping regulations that a greater number of people can reckon with.