# Local Vaping Regulations by Country



## Cobrali (10/12/16)

Hi all,

As vaping is still in its infancy there isn't a worldwide consensus on the views of vaping internationally. Since some if not most of us travel i thought we could build a database of countries we have visited and help each other with regards to the local requirements/laws of vaping in each country from experience.

We have a great community of vapers who are helpful so lets help each other by contributing and share our experiences! I will update the list as contributions come in.

Thank you!

*AUSTRALIA:* Vaping is allowed

*CANADA:* Vaping is allowed and there are vape shops around.

*CHINA:* Vaping is seen in the same sense as smoking so there is no control of vaping. There are even vape shops in most major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

*DUBAI:* Rumours of vape gear being confiscated but from members' experiences vaping is allowed where smoking lounges are.

*HONG KONG:* Vaping is allowed but follows the same rules as smoking. Nicotine is a controlled substance so it is illegal to bring it in or carry nicotine substances unless you have a prescription for it. There are a few vape shops but the ones i checked online were in the most remote parts of Hong Kong. Best bet is probably Mongkok to find a better stocked Vape shop. *E-juice is sold without nicotine!

MACAU:* Follows the same rules as Hong Kong

*MAURITIUS:* Have taken Vape gear and juices and didn't have a problem.

*NEW ZEALAND:* Vaping is allowed but only 0mg nic for sale there.

*UK:* Vaping is allowed but each establishment has right of decision with regards to vaping. Vaping banned in EPL stadiums.

*USA:* Vaping allowed and plentiful of vape shops!

*USEFUL LINKS:*
https://vapeshoreditch.com/blog/vape-near-me-uk-and-beyond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_electronic_cigarettes#Other_countries
http://www.ecigarette-politics.com/electronic-cigarettes-global-legal-status.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_electronic_cigarettes

_Will post useful links from members and from wherever I can find on the web. This database is updated based on personal, members' and article experiences on vaping._

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 3


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## Silver (10/12/16)

Great stuff @Cobrali !

Reactions: Like 1


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## supermoto (4/1/17)

https://vapeshoreditch.com/blog/vape-near-me-uk-and-beyond
Nice article on where you can vape in the UK, 
It also includes a very rough guide to other continents

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## Imperator (4/1/17)

I believe nicotine sales are prohibited in Switzerland (in the context of vaping). The same is true for some parts of Australia too.

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## Pozzi (3/3/17)

Does anybody know how Macau looks at vaping? I am moving there in April for work, and I'm hoping it's not frowned upon. Otherwise I guess I will just have to catch a ferry to China to get stock. 


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## Cobrali (3/3/17)

Pozzi said:


> Does anybody know how Macau looks at vaping? I am moving there in April for work, and I'm hoping it's not frowned upon. Otherwise I guess I will just have to catch a ferry to China to get stock.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


From what i have heard from relatives they are clamping down on vaping in HK and normally Macau follows HK but we would need confirmation..

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## Pozzi (4/3/17)

That's not great new I guess I will have to check it out hey... I will update you guys when I get there! 


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## Mender31 (26/4/17)

Hey guys

So I basically just wanted to start this thread to find out what the current situation is concerning vaping in different countries. I hopefully with move to the UK soon to join my fiancée but I heard some very sad news as the TPD has now put legislation forward that is prohibiting a few things for vapers in the near future.

Apparently no company may produce liquids exceeding 10ml in capacity. Also no tanks that exceed 2ml capacity and lastly, no juice exceeding 20mg nicotine.

As far as I know this only affects the EU and the UK but is it having an effect on the rest of the world and what does this mean for vapers everywhere? 



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## RichJB (26/4/17)

The 10ml juice bottles apparently applies throughout the EU. Some UK online retailers still sell 30ml but I think these might just be old stock that they are clearing out. The vast majority of bottles now seem to be 10ml. They also seem to be adopting a convention that you get 3x10ml bottles in one pack. So you're still buying 30ml, just in three bottles instead of one. As a DIYer, 10ml juice bottles wouldn't bother me. I work at home so would use my standard 30ml bottles for that. I doubt a SWAT team will come crashing through the door to bust me. I'd just buy a few 10ml dropper bottles to take with me when I went out. Although even that may be unnecessary. I don't think a cop will stop you if they see you with a 50ml bottle of juice. It's more a regulation that applies to the retail packaging of juices. As long as shops aren't selling in bottles bigger than 10ml, the law will be happy.

I would think that juice not exceeding 20mg wouldn't affect the vast majority of vapers. It's almost impossible to get juice in >20mg here anyway, even if it is still allowed. 

The 2ml tank thing is apparently a myth. I was chatting in Discord with a Belgian vaper where TPD2 has been in place for some time. Yet he still buys and uses 6ml and even bigger tanks from his local vape shop. According to him, the 2ml capacity applies only to cigalike cartridges, not RTAs or sub-ohm tanks. I did a thread about a new German tank that uses mesh rather than coils a couple of days ago. That has only just been released in Germany and its tank is certainly larger than 2ml. Tanks like the Mason Dump Tank and the Smok Cloud Beast still appear to be widely available throughout the UK and EU.

I think it's likely that SA will adopt the EU's TPD, we generally tend to follow the EU/UK more than the US when it comes to regulation. So I could foresee a time here when juices will only be sold in 10ml bottles. I think that, and the imposition of sin taxes, will probably be the most noticeable difference in vaping. Again, as a DIYer, it doesn't really affect me. I'm just hoping they don't go the Aus route and make possession of nicotine illegal. Technically it already is in SA but the law isn't enforced.


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## aktorsyl (26/4/17)

RichJB said:


> The 10ml juice bottles apparently applies throughout the EU. Some UK online retailers still sell 30ml but I think these might just be old stock that they are clearing out. The vast majority of bottles now seem to be 10ml. They also seem to be adopting a convention that you get 3x10ml bottles in one pack. So you're still buying 30ml, just in three bottles instead of one. As a DIYer, 10ml juice bottles wouldn't bother me. I work at home so would use my standard 30ml bottles for that. I doubt a SWAT team will come crashing through the door to bust me. I'd just buy a few 10ml dropper bottles to take with me when I went out. Although even that may be unnecessary. I don't think a cop will stop you if they see you with a 50ml bottle of juice. It's more a regulation that applies to the retail packaging of juices. As long as shops aren't selling in bottles bigger than 10ml, the law will be happy.
> 
> I would think that juice not exceeding 20mg wouldn't affect the vast majority of vapers. It's almost impossible to get juice in >20mg here anyway, even if it is still allowed.
> 
> ...


I also read that Aus went completely hardcore, yeah. How do the DIY'ers do their thing there now, do you know? If I recall correctly, Australians can import nicotine for personal use but cannot buy the nic in Aus itself.


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## LynkedZA (26/4/17)

Australia sucks lol. What are the rules regarding travel over seas

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## RichJB (26/4/17)

aktorsyl said:


> How do the DIY'ers do their thing there now, do you know?



I chatted briefly with a Kiwi in Discord who imported his nic from one of the US suppliers, Nude Nicotine or somesuch. Afaik Aussies do the same. NZ seems to have lightened up on nic now, Aus is still at it like a terrier worrying a rat. Much to the Bogan's chagrin, of course.


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## Raindance (26/4/17)

Can someone please explain me what on earth is to be achieved by limiting the sale of juice to 10ml only? Am i missing something?
10 x 10 = 100.
2 x 50 = 100. 
1 x 100 = 100. 
Essentially the only difference is that more waste will be created.

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## Mender31 (26/4/17)

Raindance said:


> Can someone please explain me what on earth is to be achieved by limiting the sale of juice to 10ml only? Am i missing something?
> 10 x 10 = 100.
> 2 x 50 = 100.
> 1 x 100 = 100.
> Essentially the only difference is that more waste will be created.


Exactly!!!!!! Which is apparently not something they considered!! But they want to label vaping so it's easier to control I guess. I do not understand but again it feels like these decisions have been made without consultation or consideration.

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## RichJB (26/4/17)

Society is terrified about "liquid nicotine spills" and "children drinking nicotine". I suppose the thinking is that if bottles are restricted to 10ml, a spill won't be as hazardous and children won't be able to drink as much. I don't know if legislators have ever drunk juice but my sense is that, after imbibing 10ml of it, a child won't exactly be on the hunt for more. In fact, I reckon 1ml is enough to put off anybody. As regards the nicotine spills, I'm not sure how much 3mg juice you'd have to spill on yourself to constitute a health hazard. My sense is that you'd need to bathe in the stuff.

I can't blame society for being a bit leery. They're working off the warnings issued by scientists who are talking about pure nicotine, which does indeed need to be handled very carefully, would require protective gear approaching a hazmat suit, and where just a few ml may prove fatal if swallowed. One can't really expect the public to know that the juice we consume is greatly diluted.

In a recent article about the 'hazards' of dripping, it was mentioned that people need to carry around a bottle of juice with them in order to drip, and that this represents "the significant risk of juice being spilled on the vaper, which can be absorbed through the skin!!!!!" OMG, call the medics. A drop of my juice just landed on my hand. I am surely doomed. Even as we speak, it is absorbing into my skin and coursing through my veins like so much deadly mamba venom.

Edit: interestingly, we can probably blame Agatha Christie for much of the hysteria around nicotine. She used nicotine poisoning as a means of murder very often in her plots. Of course, that was long before vaping. In those days, gardeners would keep liquid nicotine in the shed as an insecticide to be sprayed on roses and such. It was probably sold in almost undiluted form and needed to be diluted before spraying. But if you drank it straight from the bottle, it would likely have been very harmful. The grand old dame of whodunnits latched onto that, and the public fear of liquid nicotine grew from there. "You can die from it, you know. I read it in an Agatha Christie novel so it must be true!"

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 2


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## Mender31 (26/4/17)

RichJB said:


> Society is terrified about "liquid nicotine spills" and "children drinking nicotine". I suppose the thinking is that if bottles are restricted to 10ml, a spill won't be as hazardous and children won't be able to drink as much. I don't know if legislators have ever drunk juice but my sense is that, after imbibing 10ml of it, a child won't exactly be on the hunt for more. In fact, I reckon 1ml is enough to put off anybody. As regards the nicotine spills, I'm not sure how much 3mg juice you'd have to spill on yourself to constitute a health hazard. My sense is that you'd need to bathe in the stuff.
> 
> I can't blame society for being a bit leery. They're working off the warnings issued by scientists who are talking about pure nicotine, which does indeed need to be handled very carefully, would require protective gear approaching a hazmat suit, and where just a few ml may prove fatal if swallowed. One can't really expect the public to know that the juice we consume is greatly diluted.
> 
> ...


Hahahahaha I have not laughed so hard in a very long time!! But you see it's also the fact that most of the public have a connotation between nicotine and all kinds of death and illness. I am however not blind to the fact that vaping isn't 100 percent safe but the whole point is is that it is about 80 to 90 percent safer than smoking cigarettes. That's not what they see. They see both as equally deadly and that they don't care about the benefits that it presents to people having a really hard time quitting smoking. Thus thereby enforcing specific laws and regulations that prevent vaping from shunting it's way into the market to over throw the cigarette market. 

What we need at present is reasonable and open minded scientists, because I really cannot sit and read another bogus non-factual article about how vaping kills more people, to do the needed long term and short term studies. We need research to help back it and this helping it to progress so in the end everyone wins. 

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## Silver (27/4/17)

Mender31 said:


> Hey guys
> 
> So I basically just wanted to start this thread to find out what the current situation is concerning vaping in different countries. I hopefully with move to the UK soon to join my fiancée but I heard some very sad news as the TPD has now put legislation forward that is prohibiting a few things for vapers in the near future.
> 
> ...



Hi @Mender31
Have moved this thread to the "Vaping and Travel" subforum
It was previously in News and Media

Please also check the following similar thread that was started by @Cobrali :
https://www.ecigssa.co.za/local-vaping-regulations-by-country.t32154/

Perhaps we can merge them?
What do you guys think? @Cobrali ?
Let me know if you would like that and I can assist

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## Mender31 (27/4/17)

@Silver I have no problem with the two threads merging if @Cobrali is cool with it. 

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## Cobrali (27/4/17)

Silver said:


> Hi @Mender31
> Have moved this thread to the "Vaping and Travel" subforum
> It was previously in News and Media
> 
> ...


Please do so @Silver!  

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## Silver (27/4/17)

Ok thanks @Mender31 and @Cobrali 
The above 12 posts have been moved into this thread

It is certainly great to keep an eye on the regulations and vaping situation in each country
Your summary in the OP @Cobrali adds great value

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## Cobrali (27/4/17)

Silver said:


> Ok thanks @Mender31 and @Cobrali
> The above 12 posts have been moved into this thread
> 
> It is certainly great to keep an eye on the regulations and vaping situation in each country
> Your summary in the OP @Cobrali adds great value


Thanks @Silver! It is important info for all our vaping brothers that need to travel and need info from one place. I finally had time to update it this month.  

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## Dewald (7/11/17)

Does anybody know whether vaping is ok in Lithuania? The linked Wikipedia article in the original posts says it is, but I've seen some posts elsewhere that specifically states it is banned over there?

Going there next week and would really like not to become an international criminal.


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## Hooked (7/11/17)

Pozzi said:


> Does anybody know how Macau looks at vaping? I am moving there in April for work, and I'm hoping it's not frowned upon. Otherwise I guess I will just have to catch a ferry to China to get stock.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



@Pozzi I can't anwer your question, but Macau has plenty of casinos (and thus many visitors from mainland China) and is more relaxed than China. If China allows vaping then I would think that it would also be allowed in Macau.

@Pozzi Vaping is allowed, but you won't be able to buy e-liquid! I found this for you:
"It should be noted that while the use of electronic cigarettes outside the designated areas is not forbidden, its commercialization is not allowed in Macau. The sales ban addresses specific recommendations more recently issued by the World Health Organization, urging governments to ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and to forbid its sale."

Read the full article here: http://mantonio.net/home/new-law-restricts-consumption-forbids-sale-electronic-cigarettes-macau/

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