Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has the honour to present its

TWELFTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill S-5, An Act to amend the Tobacco Act and the Non-smokers’ Health Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, has, in obedience to the order of reference of March 9, 2017, examined the said bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1.  Clause 3, page 2: Replace line 26 with the following:

“part of tobacco, including tobacco leaves. It includes papers, tubes and filters in-”.

2.  Clause 36, pages 22 and 23:

(a)  On page 22, replace lines 16 and 17 with the following:

“30.5 Subject to the regulations, no manufacturer or retailer shall give or offer to give

(a) a vaping product; or

(b) a thing that displays a vaping product-related brand element if

(i) the thing is associated with young persons,

(ii) there are reasonable grounds to believe that the thing could be appealing to young persons, or

(iii) the thing is associated with a way of life such as one that includes glamour, recreation, excitement, vitality, risk or daring.”; and

(b)  on page 23, add the following after line 10:

“30.701 No person shall promote a vaping product or a vaping product-related brand element by means of advertising done in a manner that is contrary to the regulations.”.

3. Clause 38, page 24:

(a)  Replace line 20 with the following:

“30.43 (1) Subject to subsection (3) and the regulations, no person shall promote a vaping product, in-”; and

(b) replace line 25 with the following:

“(2) Subject to subsection (3) and the regulations, no person shall promote a vaping product, including”.

4.  Clause 39, page 26: Replace line 24 with the following:

“30.43 (1) Subject to subsection (3) and the regulations, no person shall promote a vaping product, in-”.

5. Clause 40, page 26: Replace line 30 with the following:

“after section 30.701:”.

6. Clause 44, pages 28 and 29:

(a) On page 28,

(i) add the following after line 17:

“(f.01) respecting exceptions to the prohibition under section 30.5;”, and

(ii) add the following after line 22:

“(g.1) respecting, for the purposes of section 30.701, the advertising of vaping products and vaping product-related brand elements;”; and

(b) on page 29,

(i) replace line 3 with the following:

“(f.2) respecting exceptions to the prohibitions under subsections 30.43(1) and (2);

(f.3) respecting, for the purposes of section 30.45, the”, and

(ii) replace lines 8 to 10, with the following:

“(6) Paragraph 33(f.2) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(f.2) respecting exceptions to the prohibitions under subsections 30.43(1) and (2) and, for the purposes of subsection”.

7.  Clause 61, page 39: Replace line 30 with the following:

“or (2), section 30.4 or 30.701 is guilty of an offence and liable on”.

8. Clause 63, page 40: Replace line 17 with the following:

“(2), 30.47(1) or (2) or 30.48(1) or (2) or section 30.701 or 30.71 is”.

9. New clause 67.1, page 41: Add the following after line 20:

“67.1 The Act is amended by adding the following after section 60:

PART VII.1

Review of the Act

60.1 (1) The Minister must, three years after the day on which this section comes into force and every two years after that, undertake a review of the provisions and operation of this Act.

(2) The Minister must, no later than one year after the day on which the review is undertaken, cause a report on the review to be tabled in each House of Parliament.”.

10. Clause 68, page 41: Add the following after line 24:

“(3) Schedule 1 to the Act is amended by adding the following after item 1.1:

Column 1

1.2

Column 2

- menthol (CAS 89-78-1)

- l-menthol (CAS 2216-51-5)

- l-menthone (CAS 14073-97-3)

- menthol

- cloves

Column 3

Tobacco Products

(4) Subsection (3) comes into force 180 days after Royal Assent.”

Your committee has also made certain observations, which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

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Observations to the Twelfth Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology (Bill S-5)

During its study of Bill S-5, which addresses vaping and plain packaging, the committee heard from the vaping industry that their products are primarily intended to help smokers quit using tobacco.

Committee members are concerned that once Bill S-5 is in force and the sale of vaping products with and without nicotine are subject to the provisions in the bill, some people, although well-intentioned but without medical training, will be tempted to provide clinical advice for smoking cessation.

Therefore, the committee requests that the government consider this risk in the development of regulations following the adoption of Bill S-5, in particular, by emphasizing existing provisions that prohibit non-professionals from providing medical advice.

In addition, the committee notes that the implementation of Bill S-5 will rely on very detailed regulations. The committee heard that nicotine is a highly addictive substance and observes a need for rigorous, clear standards which include, but are not limited to, e-liquid ingredients quality standards, nicotine concentration level standards, accurate labelling and oversight; in addition the need for manufacturing standards of vaping devices and their component parts.

Finally, committee members heard testimony that the contraband tobacco trade continues apace in Canada. While the weight of the evidence presented suggests that the adoption of plain packaging would not have a profound effect on the incidence of contraband tobacco in Canada, it was made clear that more needs to be done to combat this illicit trade.

Therefore, the committee urges the government to consider measures to curtail the production of contraband tobacco, including regulations that would restrict the import of substances used primarily in the manufacture of cigarettes — such acetate tow — to licensed manufacturers.