British Standards Institution draws up new vaping quality and safety specs

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has developed a fast-track informal standard, PAS 8855, to address quality, performance and safety issues related to vaping products.

The new PAS (publicly available specification), sponsored by Juul Labs, recognises the progress made in the construction and use of e-cigarettes since PAS 54115 was issued in 2015.

The new standard mainly covers the quality and safety of e-liquid ingredients, conformity of components to safety standards, quality of manufacturing, product traceability, and e-cigarette performance as assessed through emissions in the aerosol.

“To meet the current market requirements on vaping, the industry objective is to develop a new PAS in the form of a specification to meet the current market trends. The requirement is to provide manufacturers and importers with the best practice to supply the products to the general public,” the BSI said.

The new PAS does not provide a method for assessing health risks or potential reduced health risks of e-cigarettes. It does not cover medicinal products, medical devices, or other products such as tobacco-heating (heat-not-burn or HnB) devices.

The new standard is subject to a four-week public consultation, during which a review panel, including groups affected by the implementation of a PAS, will be invited to submit comments electronically via thje BSI’s online draft review system.

The BSI recently developed PAS 13956 to address quality, performance and safety issues of CBD vaping products, which are not covered by the UK’s 2016 Tobacco and Related Products Regulations.

There was previously no UK product standard covering CBD vaping. Safety requirements for zero-nicotine vaping products are only covered in UK law by the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR). BSI standards covering vape products, such as PAS 8855 (on quality, safety and performance) and PAS 54115 (manufacture, importation, testing and labelling), do not cover nicotine-free CBD products.

– Antonia Di Lorenzo ECigIntelligence staff

Photo: Jack Anstey

Antonia Di Lorenzo

Assistant news editor

Antonia is a member of the editorial team and holds a masters degree in Law from the University of Naples Federico II, Italy. She moved in 2013 to London, where she completed a postgraduate course at the London School of Journalism. In the UK, she worked as a news reporter for a financial newswire and a magazine before moving to Barcelona in 2019.