Market and legal data for the vapour sector in Scotland

26th February 2024: UK - Scotland: The Scottish government has started a consultation on banning disposables, which will run until 8th March. If the proposal is adopted, the ban would come into effect on 1st April 2025. This move can be considered redundant given that the UK government is already drafting a bill tackling a ban on disposables that would apply throughout the UK, including in Scotland.
23rd January 2024: UK (Scotland): The Parliamentary Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has written to the health minister asking if the government is planning on regulating e-cigarette displays and promotions and if there have been any discussions with the UK government on taxing vapour products. The committee also welcomed the Scottish government’s commitment to considering a ban on disposables, questioning if this measure alone would be enough to tackle the increase in youth vaping.
8th January 2024: UK - Scotland: Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Green Party Gillian Mackay has called for a UK-wide scheme allowing independent and verified labs to test disposables. This would be a preventative action aimed at cracking down on "harmful chemicals and dodgy construction" while a potential ban is being considered.
20th December 2023: UK - Scotland: Aberdeenshire Council’s Trading Standards has stressed it will not tolerate retailers selling tobacco or nicotine e-cigarettes to minors. Trading Standards undertook a test purchase operation for disposables earlier this year. Out of six shops, one had made no effort to establish the age of a 16-year-old test purchaser. The retailer was reported to the Procurator Fiscal and recently convicted at Peterhead Sheriff Court for selling a vape to an underage test purchase volunteer and fined £400.
17th October 2023: UK: Another consultation on vaping and creating a smoke-free generation has been launched by the government. The consultation on vaping will review restricting flavours and regulating packaging and display at point-of-sale. It will also consider restricting the supply and sale of disposables, whether regulations should extend to nicotine-free e-cigarettes and deal with the affordability of vapour products. Following the consultation period of eight weeks (until 6th December), the UK government, Scottish government and Welsh government intend to bring forward legislation as soon as possible.
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.
27th September 2023: UK - Scotland: The Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF), in partnership with Elf Bar, has launched a pilot programme that should improve the recycling of e-cigarettes. “Stores participating in the pilot will be able to offer customers a return point in-store through a recycling bin for used vapes, and retailers will be provided with a convenient waste and recycling option as part of this,” said the SGF CEO Pete Cheema. A total of 20 SGF member stores across Scotland will be participating in the long-term programme, starting in October.
6th September 2023: UK - Scotland: Yesterday (5th September), the first minister, Humza Yousaf, said the government will consult on measures to curb the sale of disposable vapes, which include a possible ban. Public Health Scotland (PHS) has welcomed this announcement and said it is working with the government, academics and the third sector (nonprofit organisations) to better understand and address the issue.
30th June 2023: UK: Ash Scotland – Action on Smoking and Health (Scotland) – has called on the Scottish government to consider adopting Australia’s e-cigarette by prescription approach to tackle the adolescent vaping epidemic.
19th May 2023: UK - Scotland: Health minister Jenni Minto said it’s a priority to consider a range of steps to tackle vaping, including use of regulation. “Any action that we take will build on the regulations that are already in place to restrict the marketing, promotion and sale of vaping products to under-18s,” said Minto.
15th May 2023: UK - Scotland: Humza Yousaf, the first minister of Scotland, has said that the environmental impact of disposable vapes will be addressed in the upcoming tobacco action plan, which will be published in the autumn. MSP Gillian Mackay asked Yousaf to join her in her call to retailers to keep e-cigarettes away from public view (as is the case with cigarettes) raise awareness of the purchasing age, and highlight disposable return points. The first minister agreed, adding that he is keen to work constructively with retailers.
12th May 2023: UK - Scotland: The percentage of adults who currently vape – somewhere between 5% and 13.2% – is increasing, according to the latest official analysis. Around 40% of vapers also smoke tobacco.

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