TORONTO, ONTARIO – Yesterday, the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) released its retailer best practice recommendations for the sale of non-nicotine electronic cigarettes. The association is also asking health officials at all levels of government to consult with retailers in the development of future e-cigarette regulations, and encouraging a national standard approach for the handling and sale of these products.

"In the absence of formal regulations regarding the handling and sale of these products, we have drafted best-practice recommendations for convenience store retailers," said CCSA President Alex Scholten, in a press release.

The association's policy notes that no e-cigarettes containing nicotine have been approved for sale by Health Canada and all such products are therefore illegal for sale in the country. Non-nicotine e-cigarettes are legal for sale, however the association recommends that retailers use the same age-verification practices when selling e-cigarettes as they do with the sale of tobacco and lottery items.

"Our retailers are responsible and conduct more age verification checks than any other business," said Scholten. "While e-cigarettes that do not contain nicotine are permitted for sale in Canada, we recommend that retailers not sell such products to minors."

This policy is aligned with the association's We Expect I.D. program, which requires convenience store owners to train all staff in government-approved age-verification practices and display all proper We Expect I.D. signage to promote awareness of these practices.

The CCSA is asking health boards as well as municipal, provincial and federal representatives to consult with retailers as part of their discussions on e-cigarette policies.

"Our preference would be for a national policy on the handling and sale of e-cigarettes brought forward by the Government of Canada so that regulations could be consistently applied across the country," said Scholten. "More clarification on the handling and sale of these products are needed, and we'd like to work with decision-makers to achieve this clarity."

NACS previously issued its own statement of position in March, encouraging stores selling e-cigarettes to adopt, as a best practice, a policy of treating these products as age restricted and subjecting them to the same age-verification procedures as those applicable to tobacco products.