Wales Public Health Bill to ban e-cigarettes in enclosed places

The ‘Public Health (Wales) Bill', introduced yesterday, will seek to ban the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed and substantially enclosed public and work spaces. This will effectively bring them into line with rules for normal cigarettes and ban the use of e-cigarettes in pubs, restaurants and work places etc.

The Bill also notably seeks to:

• Create a national register of retailers of tobacco and nicotine products;
• Make it an offence to hand over tobacco or nicotine products to under 18s; and
• Create a mandatory licensing system for practitioners and businesses carrying out ‘special procedures' - acupuncture, body piercing, electrolysis and tattooing.

The Bill is currently at stage 1 of a four stage process before it can become an Act. It has been suggested that it could come into force in 2017 although no precise date has been given.

We will keep you updated.