LATEST ALERTS

China Tobacco industry modernisation and supervision discussed at Beijing conference ...
Pakistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passes excise act without tax hike on oral tobacco ...
United Arab Emirates Ajman Police launch “Your Life is Purer Without Smoking” initiative ...
Italy ADM updates list of nicotine pouches authorised for sale ...
Bulgaria Bill to ban under-age sales of herbal heated sticks heads to first vote ...
New Zealand Health minister defends HTP tax cuts, will meet quit-smoking providers ...
Philippines Bill to introduce track-and-trace stamps heads to second reading ...
Kazakhstan Order issued to change warning notices in tobacco retailers ...
Vietnam Health ministry proposes tobacco tax, which could apply to heated tobacco ...
Brazil Bill introduced to criminalise the manufacture, import and sale of heated tobacc ...
Indonesia Heated tobacco tax due to increase in 2025 ...
Georgia Possible tobacco production licence fee supported in second reading ...

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Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in Central America

Global business and regulatory news covering the alternative tobacco industry

3rd June 2024

Latin America: regulatory news round-up

24th May 2024

An industry win as Panama’s Supreme Court rules HTP ban unconstitutional

5th April 2024

The evolution of novel tobacco and nicotine products over the last decade

More News analysis

Daily regulatory updates of the tobacco alternative sector. It includes weekly podcasts and monthly compilations

17th July 2024: Guatemala: On Monday, 15th July, president Bernardo Arévalo appointed Joaquín Barnoya Pérez as the new minister of health. With Arévalo’s academic background in tobacco control, his appointment may influence future policies and enforcement in the country for tobacco alternatives, press reports.
16th July 2024: El Salvador: In August, the entity in charge of supervising and regulating tobacco and nicotine products, the National Directorate of Medicines (DNM), will become the new Health Regulatory Superintendency (SRS). This change will involve taking on some responsibilities from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG). The SRS will continue regulating tobacco, and nicotine and non-nicotine delivery devices.
19th June 2024: Costa Rica: The Constitutional Chamber has ordered the Ministry of Health to issue the regulations of law 10666 – which regulated the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco – within two months, press reports. The Ministry of Health justified the delay in issuing the regulations by the need of a public consultation and the government transition. The regulations are allegedly ready, and now need to go through a final review and then be signed by the president.
29th May 2024: Americas: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is preparing actions in aid of World No Tobacco Day 2024, which will take place this Friday (31st May). In addition to encouraging its member states to implement legislation to fight tobacco and nicotine product consumption, the PAHO is also organising a seminar – to be held on 3rd June – on “experiences and innovative strategies to protect children and youth from tobacco marketing”. In a video, PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa said that there is still a long road in the fight against these products on the continent, but he celebrated the legal amendments that have taken place recently in Colombia and Brazil.
15th May 2024: Panama: The Supreme Court has declared law 315 – which prohibits the use, importation and sale of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco – unconstitutional. The Association for the Reduction of the Harm of Smoking (the plaintiff) based its case on a formal issue, claiming that the legislative approval process did not comply with constitutional provisions.
15th May 2024: Costa Rica: The Ministry of Health has presented the regulations of law 10.066, which establishes a legal framework for the use and sale of vaping and heated tobacco products. Products containing synthetic nicotine will be banned. The authority said it is working on technical regulations that will be subject to national and international public consultation, as well as a bill to correct legal deficiencies in law 10.066.
9th November 2023: World: The tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) has been postponed to 2024. COP10 was due to be held this month in Panama, but will now be held there at an undetermined date in 2024, according to FCTC authorities. They attributed the delay to “the current security situation in Panama”.
26th September 2023: Panama: The Supreme Court of Justice admitted a claim of unconstitutionality against Law 315, which prohibits the use, importation and commercialisation of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, press reports. The plaintiffs, the Association for the Reduction of the Harm of Smoking, are basing their case on a formal issue, claiming that the legislative approval process did not comply with constitutional provisions. The lawsuit will now be analysed by the court.
8th August 2023: Americas: The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), which serves as regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Americas, has praised Venezuela for its recently announced ban on heated tobacco. The PAHO says the ban is “one of the most important achievements of the Venezuelan public health in recent years and places the country at the forefront in the fight against tobacco and related products in the region”. The ban was foreseen by TobaccoIntelligence last month.
8th August 2023: Panama: The Association for the Reduction of the Harm of Smoking has filed a suit asking the Supreme Court to declare Law 315 unconstitutional, press reports. While the suit specifically mentions e-cigarettes only, scrapping Law 315 would also end the current ban on the use and sale of heated tobacco.
16th June 2023: EU: The minutes of the meeting of the European Commission (EC) Expert Group on Tobacco Policy that took place on 3rd May 2023 have been published today (16th June). Issues discussed included the revision of the Council Recommendation on Smoke-free Environments, recommending novel products be brought in line with combustible products, and the ongoing evaluation of the legislative framework for tobacco control. During the meeting, special relevance was placed on the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), to be held in Panama in November 2023. The EC stressed the importance of EU member states speaking with one voice on all agenda items, especially because the ninth session was held virtually, so all substantive decisions were deferred to COP10.
30th May 2023: Americas: Ahead of tomorrow’s World No Tobacco Day (31st May), Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), has warned that novel tobacco and nicotine products “threaten to undo decades of gains against tobacco use”. He said: “The tobacco industry and its allies do not rest. Currently, they spread a lot of misleading information that promotes, especially among young people, the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.”

Regulatory reports

Detailed legal reports outlining industry regulation, analysis of the laws, and compliance requirements

27th May 2024

Top changes that matter in this month’s Policy Radar update, April 2024

31st January 2024

Costa Rica: heated tobacco regulation, January 2024

31st January 2024

Costa Rica: oral tobacco and nicotine pouch regulation, January 2024

More Regulatory reports

Market data outputs, statistics and forecasts in interactive and downloadable format

26th July 2024

Heated tobacco pricing tracker

12th June 2024

Heated tobacco markets database

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Regulatory data

Up-to-date information about current regulations around the world

19th July 2024

TobaccoIntelligence compliance calendar

11th July 2024

Global regulatory tracker: tobacco-free pouches, June

4th July 2024

Regulatory database: global alerts round-up, June

More Regulatory data

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