IBVTA’s Bill Response

The Bill was introduced in Parliament last week (5th November) and follows separate legislation that will ban single use vapes from June next year. A further announcement that liquid used in refillable vapes and prefilled pods will be subject to a duty of £2.20 per 10ml came in the Autumn Budget last week.

As well as banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone aged 15 or younger this year, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill carries over other elements of similar plans from the last Conservative government. The previous Bill ran out of time and fell before the general election.

Sitting alongside a ban in the new Bill on vape advertising and sponsorship, the Government is granting itself powers to restrict eliquid flavours, and vape product displays and packaging, as well as covering other nicotine products.  

Additional new measures from the Labour government include powers to extend the indoor smoking ban to specific outdoor spaces: with children’s playgrounds, outside schools and hospitals all being considered, subject to consultation. Wes Streeting is also considering including vaping within the smoking ban in some indoor spaces.

The Bill will also include powers to introduce a licensing scheme for the first time for retailers selling tobacco, vape and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and will introduce on the spot fines of just £200 to retailers found to be selling these products to people underage.

Chair of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, Marcus Saxton, said: “There are things to be welcomed in this Bill, such as strengthened powers of enforcement against retailers who engage in illegal sales. However, there is also a danger that with so many legislative avenues being sought to reduce youth uptake of vaping, ‘regulatory overkill’ may hamper the future of vaping as the UK’s leading quit aid for adults.

“The IBVTA looks forward to working positively and progressively with the Government to ensure that vaping becomes less accessible and desirable to children, and to adults that would not otherwise be smoking. However, this can only be considered successful in the context of continuing the decline in adult smoking rates that has accompanied the growth of the UK’s vape sector.

“Excessive restrictions on the types of products that our members can provide may reduce the products’ appeal. Even worse, they may contribute to continued misperceptions about the harm of vaping relative to tobacco smoking. Specifically, the role of flavours in supporting adult smokers to a successful quit attempt is accepted and understood by most public health stakeholders, and we believe to have been fundamental to the success of vaping in reducing smoking rates. Therefore, any reference to potential powers to restrict flavours is very worrying, as it threatens the government’s own goal of the UK becoming smoke free by 2030.

“It is vital that more smokers understand that switching to vaping is of much lower harm and can help them to quit smoking for good.”

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.