United Kingdom: Market and legal data for the vaping sector

22nd September 2023: UK: This month, South Yorkshire Police and Rotherham Council’s Trading Standards inspected three retail premises in the Rotherham district and seized more than £9,000 worth of illegal vapour and tobacco products.
21st September 2023: UK: Junior environment secretary, Rebecca Pow, said the government is very concerned about the environmental impact of disposable vapes and will shortly publish a response to its call for evidence on vaping that closed in June. She reminded that retailers selling over £100,000 of electrical equipment per year are obliged to provide in-store takeback of electrical items, including e-cigarettes. Smaller businesses can choose to contribute funds to the distributor takeback scheme instead to ensure vapes are recycled correctly. "All vapes that are deposited at household waste and recycling centres will be collected and treated and the costs of doing this will be met by vape producers," Pow added.
19th September 2023: UK: The enforcement of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 continues across the UK. Most recently, Trading Standards and North Wales Police seized around 3,000 non-compliant e-cigarettes worth about £30,000 from a Wrexham city centre shop. The Central Bedfordshire Council announced that a retailer has been fined £2,410 for selling illegal e-cigarettes. Earlier in September, trading standards officers from Barking and Dagenham visited 18 premises, of which 5 were found to have illegal cigarettes or vapes. In total, 10,580 illegal cigarettes and 144 vapes (with a street value of over £6,000) were seized.
19th September 2023: UK: Labour member of parliament (MP) Mary Glindon has raised important questions that the government should consider before proposing new restrictions on single-use e-cigarettes. Glindon asked if any assessment was made to evaluate the health and economic impact of banning disposables on ex-smokers with low incomes, how many vapers will switch to smoking, and if the government had consulted Trading Standards on the potential enforcement of a ban. Junior health secretary Neil O’Brien said that a range of factors, such as the economic impact of any future vaping restrictions – including those related to disposable vapes, are being evaluated in relation to the recently closed call for evidence on youth vaping. “We will respond to the call for evidence shortly,” O’Brien said.
14th September 2023: UK: Junior health secretary Neil O’Brien said the new illicit vapes enforcement unit, led by National Trading Standards, is starting field operations in the coming weeks. The enforcement project, backed by government funding of £3m, should last two years.
14th September 2023: UK: Yesterday (13th September), several lords proposed Amendment 258 to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. The amendment aims to make it a requirement for all pavement licences to be smoke/vape-free; however, it was not discussed.
13th September 2023: UK: Today (13th September), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) published rulings against several vaping firms whose products had been promoted on the social media accounts of companies as well as influencers. The companies whose campaigns were scrutinised are Vapes Bars, Innofly HK, Zovoo (Shenzhen) Technology, and The Disposable Vape Store. The ads were found to be in breach of the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code and are not allowed to appear again.
12th September 2023: UK: The Department of Health and Social Care could start a consultation next week on the possible disposables ban, press reports.
8th September 2023: UK: The Times has reported that the Conservative Party has received a donation of £350,000 from Supreme 8 Ltd, a vaping company, questioning the prime minister's commitment to curbing youth access to e-cigarettes. The donation is a part of the public record published by the Electoral Commission.
7th September 2023: UK: Junior environmental secretary Rebeca Pow reiterated that the government will review the existing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations in 2023. The aim would be to strengthen producers’ and retailers’ obligations to make it more convenient for households to dispose of their unwanted equipment, including vapes. “In so doing we will make sure that the treatment costs that rise from waste vapes fall squarely on those who manufacture or import them,” said Pow. In addition, it was also confirmed that the research on the environmental impacts of disposables is going to be published in due course.
7th September 2023: UK: In 2022, 8.7% of respondents to the UK annual population survey reported that they were currently vaping both daily and occasionally, while the estimation from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) was 8.6%. The survey found that vaping figures were highest in the age group of 16 to 24; moreover, the percentage of daily and occasional vapers in this age group has increased to 15.5%, over 11.1% in 2021. This data will surely influence the ongoing policy discussions on the prevention of youth vaping.

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