Against illegal vaping
Reporting portal for violations of youth protection laws and illegal disposable e-cigarettes
The new reporting portal 
vape-kontrolle.de is designed to help make the e-cigarette market safer and uncover violations of youth protection laws.
Illegal disposable e-cigarettes, known as vapes, are flooding the German market. They are often imported by criminal gangs and also sold at regular retail outlets. Purchasing these products not only poses a significant risk to consumers. They often end up in the hands of children and young people, as the ban on selling them to minors is not consistently enforced everywhere.
Enforcing consumer and youth protection regulations poses major challenges for the authorities. On the one hand, market surveillance is currently spread across more than 400 authorities, which makes it difficult to detect violations. On the other hand, fines are often too low to have a deterrent effect. In addition, illegal products result in considerable tax losses for the state.
Citizens can report violations of the Youth Protection Act and the trade in illegal products via vape-kontrolle.de.
The reporting portal is initially available for the cities of Berlin and Hamburg, with other federal states to follow. This makes it easy to report violations to the relevant authorities when retailers sell to minors or offer illegal products. At the same time, the reporting portal informs consumers about the distinguishing features of illegal vapes, such as missing tax stamps, excessively large liquid tanks or excessive nicotine levels.
