The absolute classic misuse of EU regulatory powers under the guidance of if big corporates (pharmaceuticals in this case, who make things like nicotine gum) to stamp out a competitive product that puts profits at risk.
"You could be forgiving for thinking that the TPD/TRPR was designed to make vaping as difficult as possible, without actually banning it outright. Last year Public Health England backed the availability of e-cigarettes on the NHS, yet millions have given up tobacco already via an unregulated consumer product. The EU?s TPD is a sophisticated Denial of Service attack on that consumer market.
"Every part of the e-cig supply chain is affected in some way. New liquids and hardware now require a six-month approval period, and approval costs. The maximum tank size is a measly 2ml, less than half of the typical tank size today of 5ml. The maximum nicotine concentration in a liquid is 20mg/ml ? short of the 24mg/ml smokers look for when they start to vape. Users of high voltage (?sub ohm?) vaping hardware won?t be effected by the latter, as they use very low nicotine concentration liquids ? but the former will present a major inconvenience, as they get through a lot more liquid. And they?ll be carrying more bottles ? since the maximum capacity of a refill container size is set to 10ml. So quite perversely for a ?health? measure, a lot more people will be carrying around more containers of toxic liquid with them as a consequence. (And you thought the Cookie Directive was stupid and pointless.)
"The restrictions on promotion will also have some perverse consequences. Since ?promotion? of the products is now illegal, bloggers and YouTube vloggers have been advised not to enthuse too much about the kit they review ? and to be on the safe side, not mention the price. The regulations are nicely translated to plain English here.