Tahiti, September 2, 2025 – Last Friday, the assembly of French Polynesia voted the pure and simple ban on the importation of vaping devices and products from 1is July 2026. A decision that surprised professionals in the sector who today denounce a vote “Under emotion”. Indeed, the latter believe they are the scapegoats of broader issues. An appeal is already in preparation to be filed with the Council of State.
The subject causes a lot of inks on the networks. The imminent ban on vaping devices and products arouses strong reactions, both among consumers and their opponents. But four days after the vote of the law and its amendment, it is the turn of professionals in the sector to be heard. Gathered during a press conference they did not hide their astonishment on Tuesday: “The vote of this amendment is a disappointment”, Torea Gille de la Société Vape-X is indigne. “This amendment was voted under the emotion. (…) During the debates, it was a question of youth and the consumption of drugs, and therefore we were taken as scapegoats of the propagation of these plagues.” A clumsiness doubled with hypocrisy according to the entrepreneur: “If we start on a prohibition of vaping, then let’s go on a ban on tobacco. Let’s go on a ban on sugar, alcohol and everything that goes with it. Prohibiting the vape is choosing behind tobacco. If we remove the vape, the young behind, what is going to look for and find it?”
But today, what professionals denounce above all is the way things have happened. And for good reason: the law proposed by the government during the extraordinary session of Friday at the Assembly of French Polynesia represents the fruit of one year of work and collaboration between professionals and health services. A work swept with a back of hand and, moreover, “Under emotion” estimate the various players in the sector.
“It was a text that proposed a real strategy in terms of prevention”, Ensures Romeo Lai Fao, from Elix Vape. “This text approached the contours of distribution and imposed distribution licenses in the same way as alcohol and tobacco. In short, it proposed a certain number of closes whose aim was to clean up the market with all the excesses that we know today, namely the consumption of vaping products by minors. We worked for a long time with the health services to be able to offer something reliable and sustainable in time. Under the impulse of a single elected official, could have sweeps all this work and release a ban from nowhere. ”
An ignorance of the subject at the heart of the problem
Especially since professionals in the sector insist: “To the representatives of the assembly, before voting, come and talk to us!” Because for all the entrepreneurs concerned, the problem also comes from the ignorance of the products targeted by this law. “It is out of the question for us to praise vaping”, explain these. “Besides, we don’t say that it’s good for health. It’s also harmful, but really to a lesser extent.” And professionals in the sector recall that in an e-liquid, there is essentially aroma, vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol, which are components that are also found in food. As for nicotine, its quantity varies: “It is true that in an electronic cigarette nicotine can be in quantity higher than what is found in tobacco. You can find doses of 20 mg of nicotine”, concedes Torea Gille, of the company Vape-X, before specifying: “If we know our job and our products, we know that these doses are reduced. We can go from 20 mg to 16 mg, then to 11 mg, 6 mg, 3 mg and even 0 mg. This is something that we do not find in tobacco and classic cigarette, where components do not change.
For the time being, professionals ensure that an appeal is in preparation to oppose this amendment: “We are going to call on our lawyer who is in Paris and who will work in collaboration with lawyers from the capital. We wish to aim directly. [l’amendement]we are waiting for the publication in the Official Journal of French Polynesia today ”, Indicates the collective of entrepreneurs.
