Hundreds of Dutch shops still selling illegal vapes
Hundreds of Dutch shops continue to sell illegal vapes, often despite receiving multiple fines, RTL Nieuws reports based on figures from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). 244 companies continue to sell flavored vapes or vapes to minors even after two fines.
The figures, obtained through the Open Government Act (Woo), show that nearly half of the NVWA’s inspections of vape sellers over the past four years resulted in a fine (43 percent) or a warning (5 percent). It concerns tobacco shops, gas stations, supermarkets, and convenience stores, among others. 244 companies have been fined at least twice. 72 have received five fines. Six received ten or more.
The broadcaster joined the NVWA on a day of inspections. One of the visited sellers received his 14th fine that day. The NVWA inspector told the seller that it would be nice if the seller stopped selling vapes illegally. The seller replied that stopping was “not worth it,” suggesting that the sales bring in more than the fines cost.
Last year, the maximum fine the NVWA could impose for a first offense was €1,360. Second fines could amount to up to €2,060. Further violations could get the offender fines totalling a maximum of €22,500. The NVWA can also confiscate and destroy illegal vapes, with the costs of that being borne by the seller.
“The system is not working well enough,” Herman Bröring, a professor of administrative law at the University of Groningen, told RTL. “Apparently, offenders are not losing sleep over the amounts currently imposed as fines. If sellers simply carry on after receiving a fine, then those fines are apparently pointless. As an enforcer, you have to do more.”
The NVWA acknowledged to RTL that it was struggling with some stubborn entrepreneurs. “Besides sellers who adhere strictly to the rules, we also see a group of entrepreneurs who are very aware of our inspections and are increasingly hiding or removing vapes to avoid a fine. We know that. We are adapting our inspections accordingly.”
Pieter Rijswijk of the NVWA told the broadcaster that it would take time before all sellers adhere to the rules. “We keep coming back, sometimes up to ten or sixteen times. Over time, you do notice that those fines are starting to hit and that it is becoming annoying."
