Kathmandu. The government will not be allowed to impose restrictions on the import and sale of electronic cigarettes and vape.
Although the Ministry of Health has tried to impose a ban on electronic cigarettes (vapes), the High Court has ordered the government not to impose any such restrictions.
A joint bench of Justices Kabi Prasad Neupane and Hemant Rawal of the High Court has cleared the way for the import and sale of vape in a case filed by Vape Mandu Traders in the Patan High Court, accusing the Ministry of Finance, the Customs Department and others of blocking the import of vape.
The court has asked the government not to impose any restrictions. As an attempt to ban electronic cigarettes or vaping, the National Health Education Information and Communication Center under the Ministry of Health had also issued a circular to the relevant agencies imposing the ban.
According to Sub-rule 3 of Rule 28 of the Tobacco Products Control and Regulation Directive, 2071, it is stated that ‘no one shall be allowed to manufacture, import, sell, distribute, consume in public places and public transport, and promote and advertise electronic cigarettes through the media’, and the center has been stating that it has written to them to comply with it.
Although the center has issued circulars to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, Department of Customs, Ministry of Industries and Supplies, and Department of Commerce and Consumer Protection, the recent order of the High Court has asked the government not to stop it in this way. .
Well, recently, the addiction to cannabis seems to have increased and in Nepal, it is also being imported from Rasuwa and Tatopani, which are connected to China. More than 230 million rupees were collected from cannabis in the last fiscal year. Based on the correspondence sent by the Ministry of Health, the customs had not passed the inspection of cannabis.
However, the Department of Commerce, which grants export and import permits, was silent. Based on the correspondence sent by the Ministry of Health, the inspection was being stopped. After the inspection was stopped, smuggling increased. It is suspected that a large amount of imported cannabis is going to India through the southern border.
Recently, cannabis has also been smuggled from the Karola border in Mustang. The police had seized 19,000 packs of cannabis from Mustang last month. Last month, 86,000 packs of cannabis worth around Rs 250 million were seized from the Imadol warehouse.
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