Shadow Market of Non-Smoking Nicotine Products in Russia (Assessment of the Consequences of State Regulation)

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The subject of the study is the background and consequences of the adoption of the Federal Law «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on Protecting the Health of Citizens from the Consequences of the Consumption of Nicotine-containing Products» № 303-FZ (July 31, 2020). This law introduced a complete ban on the wholesale and retail trade in Russia of tobacco-free nicotine products intended for chewing, sucking and sniffing. At the same time, the legislator did not impose bans on the production and import of relevant products into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. It is established that the corresponding ban was introduced without assessing the criminological, legal and economic consequences, as well as without empirical studies in Russia and other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union. The reason for the introduction of the ban was the facts of poisoning of teenagers with nicotine packs (nicpack) - products that look like sweets containing nicotine and sweeteners. The immediate consequence of the introduction of a ban on the sale of non-tobacco nicotine products was the termination of state control over the circulation of such products by Rospotrebnadzor because this authority does not exercise control functions in relation to products withdrawn from circulation. Contrary to expectations, the number of facts of illegal circulation of tobacco-free nicotine products revealed by the customs authorities and internal affairs authorities did not increase, and most of the EAEU member states did not introduce similar bans. At the same time, the opportunities for acquiring niсpacks (including by teenagers) using Internet resources and courier delivery were not restricted. The main negative consequence of the introduction of a complete ban on the sale of non-tobacco nicotine products, according to the authors of the article, was the creation of additional conditions for the growth of the corresponding shadow market and the criminalization of the illegal circulation of such products. To solve the problem, the authors propose a set of organizational and legal measures aimed at improving the efficiency of monitoring and preventing the illegal circulation of tobacco-free nicotine products, including the development of a number of national standards, amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.