Market & legal data for the vapour sector in New Zealand

28th November 2023: New Zealand: Health organisations have condemned the newly elected National Party's coalition agreement to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act – which would remove requirements for denicotinisation, retail outlet reduction and the generation ban – press reports. Future finance minister Nicola Willis said the move was to fund tax cuts, although “our policy is to maintain all of the existing restrictions on smoking in New Zealand – the age limits, the health warnings, the smoking cessation programs”. National’s leader, Christopher Luxon, says he wants the amendments to the legislation repealed before March 2024.
24th November 2023: New Zealand: The recently elected National Party has formed a coalition government with the right-wing ACT and New Zealand First parties. The coalition agreement states that the parties will repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act to remove the requirements for denicotinisation, the reduction of retail outlets and the generation ban. The agreement includes changes to vaping product requirements and a ban on disposable vaping products.
3rd November 2023: New Zealand: Final election results released today (3rd November) show the centre-right National Party with a majority of seats (48 out of 122). National Party leader Christopher Luxon said during a press conference that his party was in talks with the right-wing ACT Party and New Zealand First to form a government. Luxon was a supporter of the Smokefree 2025 action plan, which made it illegal to sell smokable tobacco products to anyone born in or after 2009. When commenting on e-cigarettes, he said he was open to “all things”, including a ban, and that the current settings for vaping products in New Zealand were “wrong”.
20th October 2023: New Zealand: As of tomorrow (21st October), manufacturers and importers must only notify vaping products that use permitted flavour descriptions and meet the product safety requirements (including new nicotine limits, removable batteries, child safety mechanisms and labelling requirements) as set in the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Regulation 2023.
29th September 2023: New Zealand: As of 1st October 2023, general retailers of vape or heated tobacco products must have notified that they sell these products at retail. The registration should be done through the Health Advisory and Regulatory platform and can take between five and ten days.
8th September 2023: New Zealand: The Vaping Regulatory Authority has lost a court case against the retailer Vapo for incorrectly threatening vape retailers for selling non-compliant products, press reports. Although the regulations set the nicotine strength at 50 mg/ml, the authority said that the amount of pure nicotine allowed in nicotine salt vaping substances is generally between 26 and 37 mg/ml, as nicotine salts are not composed entirely of nicotine. Vapo challenged the authority on the basis that its interpretation was incorrect and unlawful. The court found that Vapo's interpretation of the regulations was correct. The government has since amended the regulations to lower the maximum nicotine strength to 28.5 mg/ml, and whether the ministry is able to lawfully reduce the limit is currently before the court.
24th August 2023: New Zealand: The minister of health has published the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Regulations. The regulations include packaging and new product safety requirements, retail restrictions, a new nicotine concentration limit of 20 mg/ml for disposable devices and 28.5 mg/ml for reusable devices containing nicotine in salt form, and mandatory removable batteries for reusable products. The regulations will take effect at different times, beginning on 21st September 2023.
22nd August 2023: New Zealand: The Labour Party says it will limit the number of vape stores nationwide to 600 and introduce a licensing regime if it is re-elected in the October election, press reports. "The licensing regime will both be able to reduce the number of outlets that sell vapes and also ensure there aren't clusters of vape stores targeting schools or low socio-economic communities," said Labour leader and current prime minister, Chris Hipkins.
21st August 2023: New Zealand: Health minister Ayesha Verrall has confirmed that the new regulations to limit youth vaping will come into effect on 21st September. All vaping devices will need to have removable batteries and child-safety mechanisms. Maximum nicotine concentration is set to 20 mg/ml for disposable vapes and 28.5 mg/ml for reusable products that contain nicotine only in salt form.
14th August 2023: New Zealand: Vape Free Kids New Zealand (VFK NZ), a community group that campaigns for legislative changes to protect the youth from the harms of vaping, will present two petitions with over 12,000 signatures to the parliamentary health committee to persuade politicians to introduce tougher regulations around vaping, press reports. The VFK NZ spokesperson said that the new rules announced by the government in June leave loopholes open, such as convenience stores and supermarkets being able to sell vapes next to schools.
28th June 2023: New Zealand: The Health Research Council of New Zealand has announced NZD53.7m (USD32.7m) in government funding for research into pressing health issues, including a clinical trial of low-cost intervention to help people quit vaping. Natalie Walker, leader of a research team at the University of Auckland, said: “Policy changes in the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan will make medical nicotine replacement therapy and vapes (e-cigarettes) the only legal nicotine available for smokers to manage withdrawal symptoms.”

Stay up-to-date with key market trends and regulatory news and receive complimentary data on a regular basis

News analysis

Shock reversal of smoke-free legislation in New Zealand concerns health experts

New Zealand tightens restrictions on batteries, nicotine caps, and retailers

BAT records ‘resilient’ H1 performance, remains confident about Vuse Alto PMTA

New Zealand health research fund backs three-year trial of ways to quit vaping

New Zealand takes a less strict approach towards rising vaping rates among youth

Daily news alerts

Market reports

New Zealand: market snapshot, September 2022

Snapshot: New Zealand, May 2021

COVID-19 online markets tracker

Snapshot: New Zealand, March 2020

Snapshot: New Zealand, March 2019

Regulatory reports

New Zealand: e-cigarette regulation, September 2023

Global policy on novel nicotine products: analysis from our new Policy Radar

New Zealand: e-cigarette regulation, May 2022

Regulatory report: New Zealand, April 2021

Regulatory report: New Zealand, regulations to be tightened

Interested in this region? Check our new country subscriptions

Pricing

Online e-cig pricing: New Zealand Q3 2023

Detailed pricing tracker Q2 2023

Regulatory trackers

Global regulatory tracker: current regulation of e-cigs, November 2023

Tamarind Intelligence Policy Radar, October

Market profile database

Key global e-cigarette markets database, November 2023

Regulatory databases

International e-cigarette stakeholders database

LATEST ALERTS

E-cigarettes in New Zealand

News analysis

Daily news alerts

Market reports

Regulatory reports

Interested in this region? Check our new country subscriptions

Pricing

Regulatory trackers

Market profile database

Regulatory databases

Sign up to our newsletter

Start your FREE trial