§ Ian StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government have to introduce legislation to ban the import of oral tobacco products. [58901]
§ Ms BlearsThe sale of oral tobacco products with the exception of chewing tobacco and tobacco intended to be smoked is already banned in the UK. Because of this there has not been a need to ban imports of these products.
Since 1992 it has been illegal to place tobacco for oral use on the market in this country. A Community-wide ban was put in place in the 1992 Council Directive 92/41/EEC, and became part of UK law under the Tobacco for Oral Use (Safety) Regulations 1992 (SI 3134). The Europe-wide ban was renewed in 2001 in European Union Directive 2001/37/EC.
The Government are committed to reducing all forms of tobacco use, and have introduced a comprehensive programme of action to address both the supply and the demand of tobacco products.