MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has intensified its strategic enforcement efforts to ensure that no illicit vape products will enter the Philippine market and will fall into the hands of the youth.
This is after the first death due to vape-related lung injury was confirmed and reported by the Department of Health (DOH).
According to the DTI, such endeavors are aligned with the government’s effort to ensure consumer protection, pursuant to its mandate under Republic Act (RA) 11900 or the Vape Law.
“Marketing and selling vape products to minors is expressly prohibited under the Vape Law. However, there remains strong evidence that the vape industry players are making use of marketing strategies aimed towards the youth—who remain to be the more impressionable segments of the population,” DTI Secretary Fred Pascual said.
Meanwhile, Fair Trade Group (FTG) Supervising Head and Assistant Secretary Agaton Teodoro Uvero reiterated the DTI’s commitment to ensuring that manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers of vape products are fully compliant with the Vape Law.
“We are consistently engaging with various government and non-government agencies to ensure that industry players—large or small—are properly monitored, are duly certified and registered, and that they follow the Vape Law and its accompanying implementing rules and regulations,” Asec. Uvero said.
The DTI, through its Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau, has also engaged several advocacy groups to help prevent minors from accessing vape products, such as the Health Justice Philippines, Social Watch Philippines, Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), Child Rights Network (CRN), and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK).
According to the DTI, dialogues on innovative strategies to address the problem of youth vaping were discussed, as well as strengthening existing implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
In a statement, the DTI said that the Vape Law designates the department “with principal jurisdiction over the regulation of vapes and other novel tobacco products, and assigns complementary roles to the Department of Health, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Education, Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government units.”
Data from the DTI shows from February 2023 to May 2024, 526 Show Cause Orders (SCOs) and 284 Notices of Violation (NOV) have been issued, out of the 89,046 physical and online firms monitored by the DTI-FTEB.
Same data shows that in 2024 alone, vape products with a total of PHP 32,755,717 in value have been confiscated for being found in violation of the Vape Law, as implemented by Department Administrative Order (DAO) 22-16 Series of 2022.
With this, DTI encourages the public to report violators, including retailers, distributors, and manufacturers selling uncertified items, through the Consumer Care Hotline at DTI (1-384), or [email protected].
