DTI orders e-commerce platforms to remove illegal vape listings

• Photo from Pixabay

By TechWatch PH Staff

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Saturday, August 16, has directed e-commerce and other digital platforms to immediately take down illegal vapor product listings, after monitoring efforts revealed that uncertified vape products were being sold online.

“Monitoring efforts uncovered that certain online merchants across various e-commerce platforms are engaged in the sale, or offering for sale, of uncertified vapor products,” DTI said on its official statement.

The DTI’s Office for the Special Mandate on Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products (OSMV) said some online merchants were offering vapor products without the required tax stamps, fiscal markings, or Philippine Standard (PS) license marks.

These practices violate provisions of Republic Act No. 11900, or the Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products Regulation Act; Republic Act No. 4109, or the Standards Law; and Department Administrative Order No. 02 of 2007 (DAO2) (2007).

Under the Internet Transactions Act of 2023 (Republic Act No. 11967), platforms are required to prohibit the sale and advertisement of regulated goods unless sellers can present proper licenses, permits, and other regulatory documents. The law also obliges platforms to ensure that sellers comply with sales procedures, legal limitations, and local government requirements.

All platforms have been ordered to remove within seven days the listings of merchants found to be selling uncertified vape products.

Failure to comply could make them subsidiarily or solidarily liable with the merchants involved, the DTI said. Non-compliant platforms may face administrative and legal proceedings, fines, and possible suspension of operations in the country.

“E-commerce and other digital platforms that fail to comply may be subsidiarily or solidarily liable with the merchants and will face administrative and legal proceedings, including fines under RA11900, RA11967, RA7394, other trade and industry laws, and may have their operations suspended in the Philippines,” DTI said.

The DTI has consistently warned against the sale of unregistered vapor products. In August 2022, Republic Act No. 11900 was signed into law, transferring the regulation of vapes and heated tobacco products from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the DTI.

The measure was aimed at tightening consumer protection and ensuring industry accountability.