We are pleased to report that on Wednesday December 17th members of the UK parliament set up an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on e-cigarettes aimed at educating law-makers and debating optimum policy on regulation. This is promising evidence that those who make the rules are now taking a genuine interest in the whole issue of vaping.
31 MPs and peers met at the House of Commons’ Terrace to launch the group which has been organised by the consultancy firm Abzed. Although the group is currently only planning four or five events before the General Election, hopes are high that the pace picks up after parliament settles again over the summer of 2015 – there is naturally a chance that many of the APPG’s founding members may lose their seats in May.
One key member of the APPG is Conservative peer, Lord Callanan of Low Fell. As an MEP he was heavily involved in drafting the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and pushed for more liberal regulation e-cigarettes or indeed their exclusion from that piece of legislation. While his efforts failed in Brussels, we are hopeful his knowledge and experience has influence here in Britain.
Without doubt this can be seen as an encouraging development for our industry and MultiCIG roundly welcomes it. Having seen the sector grow exponentially in recent years, politicians are now taking vaping seriously and it is our hope that the formation of this APPG leads to more research and a deeper knowledge base upon which policy and regulation can be built.
As ever, we are proud of our products and the alternative they represent for those looking to make the shift away from tobacco.
We wish the APPG on e-cigarettes well in 2015!
