Selling E-Cigarettes

Your responsibility

It is the responsibility of retailers/ traders and producers of e-cigarette / vape products to ensure you are compliant with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency regulations (MHRA).

Regulation advice for retailers can be found:

• Tobacco, vapes, etc: packaging, labelling, advertising and tracking | Business Companion
• E-cigarette and Vape Advice for Retailers / Producers - GOV.UK
  

Please ensure that if you are selling these products you are familiar with this information and comply with the law it at all times.

Compliance

Non-compliant vapes have flooded the UK market. Concern is rising about the volume of non-compliant vapes that are currently in circulation.

The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the authority in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They make sure nicotine containing Vaping products (E-cigarettes and refill containers) adhere to the rules. The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR) set out rules covering vapes.

The TRPR introduced rules which ensure:

• minimum standards for the safety and quality of all e-cigarettes and refill containers (otherwise known as e-liquids)
• that information is provided to consumers so that they can make informed choices
• an environment that protects children from starting to use these products

The requirements:

• restrict e-cigarette tanks to a capacity of no more than 2ml
• restrict the maximum volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid for sale in one refill container to 10ml
• restrict e-liquids to a nicotine strength of no more than 20mg/ml
• require nicotine-containing products or their packaging to be child-resistant and tamper evident
• ban certain ingredients including colourings, caffeine and taurine
• include new labelling requirements and warnings
• require all e-cigarettes and e-liquids be notified and published by the MHRA before they can be sold

Underage Sales

A person who sells a vape to someone under 18 commits an offence. This is a strict liability offence; the owner of the business can be held responsible as well as the member of staff who made the sale.

There is an exception for vapes that are licensed as medicines or medical devices. This exemption only applies to the extent to which the product is authorised.

If you sell vapes you might want to display a poster advising customers that you will not sell to under-18 year olds 

Suggested poster message:

If I sell vapes or nicotine refills to people under 18 years old TRADING STANDARDS WILL PROSECUTE ME 

Note: unlike the tobacco poster, this is not a legal requirement and is simply suggested wording.

Be alert

Single use, disposable vapes are increasingly popular with under-18 year olds. This largely due to their bright colours, appealing flavours and price.

You and your staff should be alert to attempts by children/ under-18 year olds to buy these products.

Take extra care to avoid underage sales.

Age of the person making the sale

If you employ under-18 year olds in your business, it is not illegal for them to sell tobacco products, provided the customer is not  under-18 years old.

However, leaving an unsupervised young person selling tobacco is not recommended.  Be aware they may find it difficult to refuse customers in their own age group.

Proxy purchase of tobacco and vapes

An adult who buys or attempts to buy tobacco, cigarette papers or vapes on behalf of someone  under-18 years old commits an offence. This is called 'proxy purchasing'.

It is the buyer and not the trader who commits an offence under these circumstances.

Be aware of young people loitering outside your premises. They may ask adult customers to buy tobacco, cigarette papers or vapes for them. It is advisable to refuse such sales.

Information and labelling

No one may produce or supply a vape or refill container unless it meets the requirements:

Each unit packet of the vape or refill container must include a leaflet with the following information:

• instructions for storage and use, including a reference that the product is not recommended for use by young people and non-smokers
• contra-indications
• warnings for specific risk groups of people
• possible adverse effects
• addictiveness and toxicity
• the producer's contact details

Each unit packet of the vape or refill container must include:

• a list of all ingredients in descending order by weight
• nicotine content and delivery per dose
• batch number
• recommendations to keep the product out of reach of children

Each unit packet and any container pack must carry the health warning: 

• 'This product contains nicotine which is a highly addictive substance'. 
• It must appear on the front and back surfaces, and cover 30% of that area.

Disposable vapes sometimes display a typical number of puffs on the packaging. Typically, a disposable vape would provide 600 puffs or the equivalent of 20 cigarettes.

Product presentation

A vape or refill container must meet the following requirements before it is produced or supplied. The unit packet and any container pack may not include any element or feature (including text, symbols, names, trademarks, figurative or other types of sign) which:

• promotes or encourages consumption by creating a false impression about its characteristics, health effects, risks or emissions
• suggests it is less harmful than other vapes or refill containers, has vitalising, energising, healing, rejuvenating, natural or organic properties or has other lifestyle benefits
• refers to taste, smell or other additives (except flavourings) or their absence
• suggests that a particular vape or refill container has improved biodegradability or other environmental advantage

A vape or refill container must not contain:

• printed vouchers
• offer discounts
• free distribution
• two-for-one
• other similar offers

Please ensure that if you are selling these products you are familiar with this information and comply with the law it at all times.