Yesterday (14th September 2023) the UKVIA (UK Vaping Industry Association) has announced the formation of the new “Global Vape Alliance”.
You can read all about it in the press release “Announcement: New Global Vape Alliance Unveiled“.
The alliance is the collaboration between the…
- UKVIA
- ECCC (Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce)
- VTA (US Vapor Technology Association)
- IEVA (Independent European Vape Alliance)
Aim
To encourage and underscore the power of unity within the vaping industry and promote collaboration, responsible practices and champion the cause of harm reduction.
For more information visit the GVA website here – Global Vape Alliance.
GVA Declaration
The aim of the Global Vape Alliance is to follow the declaration – which I have copied and pasted below.
Introduction
Fifteen years ago, the world lacked sufficient progress in tobacco control because, among other reasons, there were no comparable innovations like e-cigarettes at the time. Tobacco-control policies, which were based exclusively on beating addiction by making access to tobacco as prohibitive as possible, were starting to show their limits. In many countries, public health institutions were scrambling to find new ways to beat cigarette use. Meanwhile, early industry entrepreneurs were optimistic and ambitious about what vaping products could do for consumers and wanted to build new products that would help smokers substitute deadly cigarettes for less harmful vapor-based alternatives. From this, an entire industry was born and, in the past 15 years, it has helped millions of people all over the world to quit cigarettes and improve their lives. From the United States to Europe and China, and all over the world, vaping companies share the goal of supporting people in their quest to give up on tar-emitting cigarettes, which will provide huge potential benefits for public health.
Every day, the industry is assisting people in their smoking-cessation efforts and, where possible, supporting public health authorities. Furthermore, it is creating guidelines for responsible advertising and product promotion that protects youth, while constantly seeking ways to reduce its environmental footprint. Balancing easily accessible products for smokers, that are user-friendly and thus make it easier to motivate smokers to switch, with ecological considerations, is challenging to achieve, but we are striving for it every day.
The Global Vape Alliance is a significant stride towards optimizing and expediting these processes. The leaders of vaping industry associations from all over the world are coming together, in order to promote communication and cooperation on best practices, that will better serve their members and consumers. In order to achieve this goal, the Global Vape Alliance will communicate and cooperate on four critical issues: Regulation Compliance, Industry Promotion, Public Health, and Environment Protection.
Regulation Compliance
The Alliance places a top priority on regulatory compliance. As such, the Alliance members will share information and strategies for best practices to educate and guide member companies on existing laws, regulations and industry standards. The Alliance will also share and develop strategies to ensure that industry members adopt and implement responsible marketing strategies, avoid packaging or advertisements that could mislead consumers, and condemn product design and marketing practices that target minors. We will also communicate the importance of ensuring that vaping companies not promote or sell vaping products to the underage or people who do not reach the minimal age to legally purchase e-cigarettes.
The Alliance will also share strategies for urging member companies to create products in compliance with the quality standards required by authorities, ensuring that vaping products used by consumers meet quality standards in target countries, and also strategies for cracking down on counterfeit products.
Industry Promotion
The Alliance will share strategies for the promotion of the healthy development of the global vaping industry, and as a unified voice for the industry, will look to empower their member companies by promoting the sophistication, professionalism, and importance of the industry.
The Alliance will facilitate the communication among stakeholders in the industry, extending friendship and promoting commercial cooperation. It will ensure a sustainable development for the industry by protecting SMEs, championing fair competition and encouraging technological innovation.
Public Health
The Alliance will engage and cooperate on the most important issues affecting public health and the enormous potential that vaping products provide for reducing and eliminating public health risks. We will actively communicate on strategies for publicizing the harm-reduction aspects of e-cigarettes and the importance of encouraging conventional smokers to adopt vaping products to reduce harm.
The Alliance will objectively and openly provide information regarding the impact of vaping products on physical health and urge companies to be open and transparent of the information in the whole industry chain including design, manufacturing, advertisement, marketing and after-sales. All of these actions will fully take into account local regulations.
Environment Protection
We will develop strategies for educating businesses and consumers about the impact on the environment when producing and/or disposing of vaping products.
The Alliance will encourage the products or services that are beneficial to the environment, by recommending the adoption of recycling, reusing, environment-friendly material application, low-carbon design and manufacturing and anti-plastic waste practices. We will urge industry to strictly abide by the environment laws in relevant countries and regions, and encourage companies to pioneer environment-friendly development through technological innovation, so as to drive a green and sustainable development of the whole vaping industry.
Looking to the future
The Global Vape Alliance is an opportunity, not just for the industry or its consumers at large. The global vaping industry faces various challenges, and improved communication and cooperation will benefit the industry in addressing those challenges more effectively. In addition, the Alliance can also be of great assistance to those organizations in working with and/or engaging with public health systems and regulators on the best ways to end the scourge of smoking. Wherever we are in the world, we, the signatories of this Declaration, will work towards the same objective: a world without cigarettes and smoking.
The Global Vape Alliance aims to establish a roadmap for crafting essential future policies. By addressing the four major pillars, it demonstrates our commitment to making the industry well-prepared for a future featuring safer products tailored specifically for adult ex-smokers, all while adhering to both local and international regulations and prioritizing environmentally-friendly product production. The Declaration is our roadmap to a smoke-free, greener and continued secure future, and the latest milestone in a journey that began 15 years ago.
At its heart, the Declaration shows why we are stronger and can do more good, as an industry, when we come together. With this Declaration, we enter a new stage, where we multiply our efforts globally. Together, for the good of the over one billion people who want to quit smoking.
📣MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: The UK Vaping Industry Association and the Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) have formally joined one other’s memberships in an exciting display of collaboration.
To further solidify industry cooperation on an international scale, four leading… pic.twitter.com/TobPuLJzKm
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
The UKVIA, together with three other leading associations from around the world, has formed the Global Vape Alliance – a coalition committed to advancing harm reduction, promoting responsible practices and supporting of smokers in their transition to less harmful alternatives. pic.twitter.com/ePuFXquPu4
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
The announcement of the GVA, made today, was marked by the signing of a ‘historic’ declaration which will see industry leaders collaborate and cooperate across four critical areas – Regulatory Compliance, Industry Promotion, Public Health and Environmental Protection.
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
He said: “The vaping sector is entering a critical chapter in its history, with increased scrutiny from policymakers, regulators, public health officials, academics and campaigners.
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
“It has to stand up and be counted, show strong leadership and the greatest levels of responsibility.”
Read on for the full GVA announcement and declaration: https://t.co/SdjtxUtMXO
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
Our Director General John Dunne said the launch of the GVA and the declaration ‘show the world we are committed to the best standards, practices and, above all, making smoking history’.
— UKVIA (@Vaping_Industry) September 14, 2023
A new Global Vape Alliance has been announced today alongside a groundbreaking declaration to foster collaboration, promote responsible practices, and champion the cause of harm reduction in the vaping industry. @Vaping_Industry @VaporTechAssoc https://t.co/VfnLjH5SiW
— IEVA (@europeanvaping) September 14, 2023
