Ms Siobháin Brophy:

Yes, people certainly use these avenues to buy products. We should bear in mind that the regulations in place in the EU are much stricter than those in the US. Anybody who sells products into Ireland or uses cross-border distance sales needs to be registered with the HSE. There is regulation of purchasing products online. Under a market surveillance regulation that applies to a range of products, the HSE will get increased powers in the area of online sales. If there is an issue with products or if the HSE believes certain products are unsafe, it will have increased regulatory powers to instruct a company to remove them from its website. There are also many reporting mechanisms within the EU to highlight dangerous products through the RAPEX system and the market surveillance system, and that is increasing. The EU, as a whole, through market surveillance and within the review of the tobacco products directive, is recognising there need to be increased restrictions, and they will come.