Market and legal data for the vapour sector in England

28th September 2023: UK - England/Scotland: A store in Bicester has been ordered to pay over £2,500 for selling a disposable e-cigarette to a minor in January 2023. The shop was one of several visited by the Oxfordshire County Council’s Trading Standards as part of a test purchasing operation based on complaints by local residents, a local councillor and the local policing team. Meanwhile, in Ayrshire, police and Trading Standards officers inspected several retailers across the county yesterday. Only one store in Irvine was found to be selling non-compliant disposables and counterfeit loose tobacco. Illegal products with an estimated retail value of £3,500 were seized by police for destruction.
11th April 2023: UK - England: The government today announced a new “swap to stop” scheme intended to lower the smoking rate to 5% or below. Smokers across England will be offered a free vaping starter kit, while pregnant women will receive financial incentives involving vouchers, alongside behavioural support. The government will also consult on cigarette pack inserts with positive messages and information to help people to quit smoking.
24th January 2023: UK: Illegal e-cigarettes worth £107,000 have been seized in London, said Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council.
20th January 2023: UK: Two retailers in South Gloucestershire have been fined for selling illegal disposable e-cigarettes. Prosecution started last year when Trading Standards officers found and seized products with up to seven times the 2 ml legal limit of nicotine-containing e-liquid in one of the stores. The combined total of fines, costs and surcharges comes to £10,786.
20th December 2022: UK: Authorities have seized more than 100 non-compliant e-cigarettes in Southend following test purchases in 11 shops, media reports.
9th June 2022: UK: Today, the Independent review into smoke-free 2030 policies led by Javed Khan was published. The document lays out proposals for England to achieve a smoking rate of 5% by 2030. The report calls for making e-cigarettes more accessible to those who want to stop smoking, decreasing the VAT rate comparable to those for nicotine products, and addressing the high cost of licensing vape products with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). It also states that there is a need to strike a balance between allowing the retailers to promote vaping for smoking cessation and giving free samples to school children.
25th March 2022: UK: Trading Standards Sandwell have seized more than 1,600 illegal disposable vapes from two shops. Non-compliant products exceeded the maximum volume of 2 ml and instead contained between 4.5 ml and 9 ml of e-liquid. The Sandwell Council warned: “Look out for products that don’t meet legal requirements such as Vapeman, who have not been authorised for sale in the UK. Retailers should remove these products from sale and return them to the supplier.”
2nd March 2022: UK: The West Northamptonshire Council trading standards department has inspected five shops following complaints of underage (under-18s) sales. Three of the shops asked for identification when the customer attempted to buy e-cigarettes and cigarettes, while the other two face under further investigation, press reports.

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