Government advice to ban e-cigarettes is not binding on India’s states

A pronouncement earlier this year by the Indian government that individual states should ban vapour products appears to have encouraged action in several – but the Delhi High Court has confirmed that the advisory is not binding for the states.

India’s regulation of e-cigarettes has been subject to a legal vacuum, since federal law doesn’t tackle vapour products. However, e-cigarettes have already been banned in several states: Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Bihar.

This year, the Federal Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued an advisory to states recommending bans on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) as a result of a High Court case in New Delhi, including e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn devices, vapour, e-sheesha, e-nicotine-flavoured hookah, and other similar products.