Police could seize electronic cigarettes from children in public places and adults would be banned from buying them for minors after the NSW government responded to pressure to tighten e-cigarette laws.
But critics say the proposed measures fall short and electronic cigarettes should be subject to the same strict rules as tobacco.
Health Minister Jillian Skinner on Tuesday sought to strengthen the government's crackdown on e-cigarettes. Health experts say tobacco companies are increasingly moving into the market and making misleading claims about the safety and efficacy.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices in which a flavoured vapour containing nicotine or other chemicals is heated and inhaled. The government has been criticised for failing to regulate the booming market in the devices, which are popular among young people.
This month the government introduced legislation to Parliament to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes and their accessories to minors.
After calls by the Greens and Labor for more drastic action, Ms Skinner said on Tuesday the government would seek to ban adults from buying e-cigarettes or accessories on behalf of minors, and give police powers to confiscate e-cigarettes from children in a public places. The Greens had been pushing for the changes.
The government will also move to crack down on e-cigarette vending machines.
However it will not ban the use of e-cigarettes in a car in the presence of a child, nor will it adopt a proposed Labor amendment to prohibit their use in public "smoke-free areas".
Ms Skinner told Parliament e-cigarette use was increasing around the world and there was debate over whether they represent a new opportunity to help smokers quit, or a danger to efforts to reduce smoking.
"However we now know that e-cigarettes are not a product that children and young people should be using, and that's why it's important to act now," she said.
NSW Greens health spokesman Jeremy Buckingham welcomed the move but warned without more action, the government risked undoing efforts to reduce smoking.
"Why is the government dithering when it comes to protecting youth from such an addictive substance as nicotine?" he said.
NSW Labor health spokesman Walt Secord said the changes were minor and the laws "do not go far enough".
"It is still possible to use an e-cigarette in a movie theatre or a hospital corridor … the government has taken a mini-step forward, but there is still much more for them to do," he said.
The Greens and Labor say e-cigarettes should be subject to the same restrictions as the tobacco industry.
NSW Health says there is limited information about the safety of electronic cigarettes, which were invented in China in 2003. It says some devices are manufactured overseas "where safety and quality controls are unknown".
NSW Health noted concerns by health experts over unregulated doses of nicotine and other chemicals and the safety of the devices themselves, adding their safety cannot be guaranteed.
As Fairfax Media reported this month, NSW health officials have failed to nab a single retailer for selling illicit electronic cigarettes, despite the department's own testing revealing 70 per cent illegally contain nicotine.
