Earlier this year on the 15th of September, the National Association of Electronic Smoke Manufacturers belonging to Confindustria (ANAFE), launched the 2nd edition of the tour, with the aim of raising awareness about the risks from the proposed national tax law and TED directive from the EU. 

The focus of the 2021 edition is the tax issue, more particularly, the unsustainability and counterproductivity of the tax on e-cigs put forward in Italy and the proposed Tobacco Excise Directive (TED) by the EU.

“The gradual increase, every year for three years, of the taxation on electronic cigarettes –  explains Roccatti – is pure absurdity, that risks bringing to its knees a sector already severely affected by the pandemic and which today counts about 45,000 employees including both direct and indirect sector. Although the new tax regime has been suspended until December 31st, 2021, the new increase will come into effect from next year. This is crazy rule indeed, that will not only seriously weigh on a supply chain made up of small and medium-sized enterprises representing an excellence model of Made in Italy in the world, but will even  encourage the proliferation of the black market and the return to traditional cigarettes as well which price was not expected to increase of even 1% in the last year – with the consequence that, in some cases, traditional cigarettes would be even cheaper than e-cigs”.

With the support of LIAF (Italian Anti-Smoking League), IEVA (Independent European Vape  Alliance), and Sigmagazine, the 2021 edition of “Ride4Vape” will start from Bolzano on Monday, September 20th. Before landing in the capital, Roccatti will stop in Abano Terme (PD), Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN) and Sangemini (TR). Along the way and live from facebook, our President will explain us in detail the disastrous effects of the fiscal policy defined on e-cigs and will launch an appeal to the institutions to stop the maxi-tax,” read a press release by ANAFE.

The WVA’s Vape Bus Tour

Similarly, the World Vapers’ Alliance’s (WVA) recently launched ‘Vape Bus’ tour, with the aim of educating about tobacco harm reduction, as part of the group’s “Back Vaping. Beat Smoking” campaign. Travelling across Europe through the months of August and September, the electric pink bus will be spreading the message that up to 19 million lives can be saved in Europe alone, if policymakers had to embrace the use of e-cigarettes for the purpose of tobacco harm reduction, such as in the UK. Launched in Barcelona last month, the bus will be proceeding to the rest of Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the UK and Switzerland.

Speaking about the European bus tour, WVA director Michael Landl, said that it is vital that vapers’ voices are heard. “We started our journey in Barcelona today because smoking is still the leading cause of preventable diseases in Spain. If Spanish and EU politicians embrace vaping then 2.4 million lives can be saved in Spain, and 19 million in Europe. We want to make 2021, the year that the world embraces one of the greatest public health inventions of the century – vaping. To achieve this, it is vital that the voices of vapers are heard.”

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