The sale of e-cigarettes and other vaping devices will be allowed throughout the UAE from mid-April, the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) said on Sunday.

According to ESMA, new regulations developed by the government entity that legalise the sale and use of e-cigarettes and similar smoking devices will come into effect.

“ESMA aims to issue this standard to regulate and create awareness about the ingredients used in the products, in order to ensure no banned substances are mixed in these products, posing a danger to public health,” ESMA Director General Abdullah Al Muaini is quoted as saying by Gulf News.

Al Muaini noted that the popular products are already available online, and that the new regulations cover a wide range of electronic smoking products including electronic shishas, pipes, vaping devices and their liquid refills.

“These products include non-tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes [electronic shisha] and refill packages such as electronic liquids, and products that use tobacco as the plant where it is placed in an electronic device that heats the tobacco rolls and smoked through the device without a burning process of tobacco,” he added.

Under the new rules, manufacturers, wholesalers and retails will be free to sell the products, as long as they meet ESMA’s standards and carry health warnings.