E-cigarette vaping in Greece

The European Union (EU) Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) 2016 Changes to the EU TPD

- No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction

The TPD is a Directive of the EU which means that all EU countries must ‘transpose’ or incorporate the TPD requirements into their national laws. The only flexibility permitted is the ability to enact additional regulations. The current Directive entered into force on 19th May 2014 and became applicable in the EU Member States on 20th May 2016.

In 2014 a revised Tobacco Products Directive known as TPD 2 was issued by the EU to update the 2001 Tobacco Products Directive. TPD2 regulates all tobacco products in the European Union and its scope is wide. It covers product regulation in terms of reporting obligations of ingredients and emissions for all tobacco products. It includes product packaging and labelling including the size and appearance of products, traceability features to be fixed onto packaging as well as health warnings. It covers cross-border advertising of tobacco products; it reinforces the ban on oral tobacco products (snus), but importantly it provides for the placing on the market of e-cigarettes and refill containers, as well as making provision for notification of novel tobacco products. It also provides for herbal cigarettes.

See also p. 96 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)

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Top Four Reasons for Starting to Use E-Cigarettes

- No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction

This figure illustrates the most important reasons that motivate smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, across the 28 member states of the European Union in 2017.

The top reason across the EU for using e-cigarettes is to stop using tobacco. The clear majority of people using e-cigarettes did so to stop, or to reduce tobacco use (61%). Following this the next reason was because they thought e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes (31%), or less expensive (25%). Only 6% said they started because they felt using e-cigarettes was cool or attractive.

See also p. 44 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)

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Ratio of Current Vapers to Current Smokers

- No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction

This figure provides a simple metric giving the ratio of current e-cigarette users to current smokers amongst the 28 EU member states in 2017. This shows that the UK has the most e-cigarette users per smoker at 0.29. In other words, there are 29 e-cigarette users for every hundred smokers in the UK. In many other EU countries, the ratio is above 0.10.

These data were gathered by the European Union for the Eurobarometer 458 survey, which aimed to conduct an extensive survey of e-cigarette use across the EU as part of a wider review of smoking habits. Across the 28 EU member states this survey found that:

» Around 15 percent of those aged 15 or over had tried an e-cigarette at least once – compared to 12 percent in 2014;

» Two percent of the total EU population are current users of e-cigarettes and this has remained stable since 2014;

» Almost one in twenty current smokers now currently use e-cigarettes or similar devices (four percent), and four percent of ex-smokers;

» Current use of e-cigarettes among people who have never smoked is rare. At most, one percent of e-cigarette users in any EU country are people who have never smoked.

See also p. 42 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)

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