The Philippines' Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued a stern warning to online shops, ordering them to remove all listings of illegal and unregistered vape products. Officials who fail to comply could face severe penalties, including prison terms of at least two years and fines starting at P2 million (approximately USD 34,000).
DTI E-commerce Bureau Director Eryl Royce Nagtalon stated that selling unregistered vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products violates the Consumer Act, the Vape Law, and regulations from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Online platforms have been formally notified to take down these listings, and inter-agency monitoring is ongoing.
Lawyer Frediswenda Benas, head of DTI’s E-commerce Enforcement, noted that around 92,000 listings of illegal vape products have been monitored over the past two years. She stressed that under the Internet Transactions Act, online platforms are jointly liable for illegal items sold on their sites, with executives potentially facing two to six years in prison and fines ranging from P2 million to P5 million.
