ECigIntelligence regulatory burden index. Courtesy of ECigIntelligence

Whether it's flavor bans or bans on vaping products, doing business in the Middle East and South America may be difficult, according to a regulatory burden index published by ECigIntelligence last week. But in-house counsel should look for medical regulatory exceptions or watch where the bans are lifting to help their companies expand business.

ECigIntelligence, a London-based market research company for the e-cigarette industry, rated each country on the map from lowest to highest in variables of 10; 90-100 being the highest and 0-10 being the lowest.

The countries with the highest levels of regulation are Saudi Arabia, Oman, Lebanon, Brunei, Egypt, Iran and Qatar. Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela also have strict regulations on e-cigarettes and vaping devices. There are winds of change on e-cigarette regulation in the Middle East, said ECigIntelligence editorial director Barnaby Page. He added because of the United Arab Emirates' influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council, those bans may be lifted in other Middle Eastern countries.

“Most notably, in the [United Arab Emirates] we've recently seen a policy change when the country decided to allow the commercialization of e-cigarettes after a long-standing ban,” Page said.

Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, a nonprofit that advocates for the use and regulation of vaping devices, said one of the issues companies face in those markets are finding ways to change the laws.

“One impediment to that is the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Virtually every country but the U.S. has ratified it,” Conley explained.

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control bars tobacco companies from engaging with governments, which means some of the larger vaping companies could face issues when trying to lobby to change the laws.

“Juul is now one-third owned by Altria. So when it comes to negotiations with international governments they could be considered a tobacco company,” Conley explained.

He said the larger companies in these countries have gone the route of asking for forgiveness rather than permission. However, that is not feasible for smaller retailers or distributors in those restrictive countries.

Many of the countries that have banned vaping devices have their origins in old pharmaceutical regulations.

“Some of these laws were not put in place to deter vaping, but instead are relics of pharmaceutical regulations where products that contain nicotine, but aren't intended for smoking or chewing, have to go through a medical approval process,” Conley said.

Page said these exceptions are rarely given to companies to allow them to sell in certain countries.

“In practice no supplier actually takes that route, and the chances of regulatory approval, if they did, might be small,” Page said.

Page noted while some countries do have more restrictive regulations, enforcement may be more relaxed.

“It's also worth noting that our regulatory index does not at present capture how aggressively legal restrictions are enforced, and that in some instances the regulatory framework is not supported in practice due to the lack of enforcement,” Page said.