Health Canada webinars on the Vaping Products Reporting Regulations for vaping stakeholders – October 10 and 11, and November 7, 8 and 28, 2023

Subject:

The Tobacco Control Directorate organized webinars on the Vaping Products Reporting Regulations for vaping stakeholders.

Dates:

• October 11 and November 7 and 28, 2023 (English)
• October 10 and November 8, 2023 (French)

Participants:

Health Canada (HC)

• Acting Manager (Chair), Reports Control Division (RCD), Tobacco Products Regulatory Office (TPRO), Tobacco Control Directorate (TCD), Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch (CSCB)
• Senior Regulatory Affairs Officer, RCD, TCD, CSCB
• Senior Regulatory Affairs Officer, Scientific Regulations Division, TCD, CSCB

Vaping stakeholders

• About 150 members of the tobacco industry

Introduction:

Webinars on the requirements of the Vaping Products Reporting Regulations (VPRR) were held at the invitation of Health Canada.

The Chair opened the sessions.

The Chair reminded participants that the sessions are subject to disclosure as per Health Canada's policies on openness and transparency. In the interest of transparency, the Department stated that the sessions would be recorded and made available to the public. The Handling of information and privacy notice was mentioned and acknowledged.

Health Canada also referred to Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, namely the department's international obligation to protect tobacco control policies from the vested interests of the tobacco industry.

Topics discussed:

Health Canada provided an overview of VPRR requirements and prescribed forms, including the scope and application of the Regulations, who must submit reports, the protection of submitted information and frequency of reporting. Examples of how to complete the forms for reporting sales and ingredients of vaping products were also provided.

Following the presentation, Health Canada responded to questions from members of the industry, who were particularly interested in obtaining clarification on the Regulations and the forms prescribed.

Questions and comments addressed the following:

• reporting responsibility issues, including situations in which suppliers could submit reports on behalf of manufacturers;
• product categorization in reporting forms;
• inconsistencies between the Regulations and required forms;
• instructions for completing the forms;
• confidentiality of information submitted;
• consequences for manufacturers if they are unable to obtain ingredient information from their suppliers.

To address these issues, Health Canada has explained what constitutes a manufacturer under the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA). For example, importers are manufacturers within the meaning of the Act and are therefore required to report under the VPRR. Furthermore, in some cases, two or more entities may be involved in reporting for a given vaping product, for example:

• The owner of the product in Canada, i.e., the entity that controls the manufacture and sale of the product; and
• A manufacturer in Canada mandated by the product owner to manufacture vaping products on its behalf.

In such cases, Health Canada is not interested in receiving duplicate information, but must ensure that the information is complete. For sales reports, the VPRR requires the reporting of sales to be broken down according to the province or territory in which the product is intended for retail sale. The entity responsible for the sales report could be the company whose name appears on the vaping product sold to consumers, or the owner of the product. For the ingredients report, the product owner may report the ingredients, or the contract manufacturer may report the ingredients on behalf of the product owner.

Conversely, a retailer who sells exclusively at retail is not required to submit reports under the VPRR. Health Canada encouraged participants to consult the definitions of manufacturer and manufacture in section 2 of the TVPA (https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/t-11.5/page-1.html#h-449153) and the definition of manufacturer in section 1 of the VPRR.

Participants were also given instructions on how suppliers can, on behalf of the manufacturer, submit information about ingredients and substances used in the manufacture of vaping products directly to Health Canada. The form Supplemental Ingredients Report for Vaping Products (Suppliers) – Ingredients with More than One Substance may be used for this purpose. The completed form should be sent in an email to vprr-rrrpv@hc-sc.gc.ca. Health Canada has indicated that it expects manufacturers to inform the department of this alternative arrangement with their suppliers.

In addition, Health Canada has provided information on the possible consequences of contravening the TVPA, such as failing to submit the reports required under the VPRR. This could result in enforcement action, including suspending the sale of the vaping product to which the information relates. Health Canada takes a phased approach to its compliance and enforcement activities related to vaping and tobacco. The first step is to inform regulated parties to make them aware of the new requirements. This includes communicating information, such as fact sheets, organizing webinars, etc. The next steps involve taking action to correct non-compliance, ranging from issuing a warning letter to taking legal action.

Lastly, additional information was also provided by Health Canada on the different categories of vaping products, the data to be submitted and where to enter it on the forms.

In addition to addressing issues during the webinars, Health Canada developed "Questions and Answers" documents that were forwarded to industry stakeholders after the webinars.

Conclusion:

The sessions were concluded.

Documents:

• Health Canada presentation and recording of the webinar.