Kenya: Bill Would Impose Extreme Vape and Pouch Restrictions

A bill introduced in Kenya’s parliament would impose serious restrictions on vaping products and nicotine pouches, making them less attractive and less available to ordinary Kenyans. The Kenyan Senate is accepting public comment on the bill until Aug. 26.

The legislation, Senate Bill 35, is supported by Kenyan tobacco control and public health groups, some of which accept funding from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and other Bloomberg Philanthropies-supported anti-vaping groups.

Flavor ban, nicotine limit, bizarre nicotine pouch warnings

The new bill will, if passed, amend the country's Tobacco Control Act to redefine “smoking” to include vaping, thus including vaping in all existing smoking restrictions, including advertising and public use. All online sales and advertising would be banned.

The bill would also prohibit the manufacture, import and sale of any product without prior approval by the Cabinet Secretary for Health, and gives the Cabinet Finance Secretary broad powers to tax nicotine products and regulate their prices. Punishments for violating different sections of the new law include stiff fines and prison terms of up to three years. 

The amendment introduces several new vaping product restrictions:

• Characterizing flavors will be prohibited
• E-liquid cannot have a nicotine concentration greater than 10 mg/mL (1%)
• Bottled e-liquid containers cannot hold more than 10 mL
• Disposable vapes, refillable tanks, and refill pods and cartridges, cannot hold more than 2 mL
• Vapes and refill containers must be “child- and tamper-proof,” and must “have a mechanism that ensures refilling without leakage”

If the bill is passed, nicotine pouches cannot contain characterizing flavors, or more than 10 mg of nicotine per pouch. Each individual pouch must have a removable sticker with a health warning. Pouch containers must be “child and tamper-proof and [able to] be used without spilling their contents.”

If the bill passes, it would empower the Cabinet Secretary for Health to ban any product that does not conform to the law. The health secretary would be requiredo publish a list of both approved and banned products, and authorized manufacturers and importers.

Public comment period ends Aug. 26

The bill passed its first Senate reading on Aug. 6. It is now in the hands of the Senate’s health committee, which must deliver its report to the Senate by Sept. 6. A companion bill is expected in the lower house of Parliament, the National Assembly.

Comments to the Senate are being accepted until Aug. 26 at 5:00 p.m., and must be emailed to clerk.senate@parliament.go.ke and copied to laboursocialwelfarecomm.senate@parliament.go.ke.