UKVIA Writes to Health Secretary

The letter reads:

“Dear Wes,

On behalf of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), we would like to thank you and the Health and Social Care ministerial team for announcing that the soon-to-be-reintroduced Tobacco and Vapes Bill will “include powers to introduce a licensing scheme for retailers to sell tobacco, vape and nicotine products in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

As you will be aware, the legitimate vaping industry has long advocated for the creation of a licensing scheme for retailers and distributors, and we are delighted that vape licensing is now firmly on the policy agenda. This development will enable youth and illicit vaping to be addressed, allowing the industry’s focus to remain on supporting adult smokers in quitting.

Looking ahead, we welcome the opportunity to work with you and officials in your department to ensure that any regulations regarding flavours, packaging, and display are fit for purpose, establishing a balanced approach to vaping policy. Such an approach should safeguard against the challenges posed by youth vaping and illicit products while preserving and promoting vaping as the most successful stop-smoking tool available for adults.

We would also appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with your officials to ensure that the future licensing scheme is robust and serves as an effective means of monitoring the vaping market. For instance, in our view, the licensing scheme must include vaping distributors, and fines should be set at up to £10,000. We have previously submitted a comprehensive licensing scheme proposal to your department.

The UK Vaping Industry Association does not have any members who are owned (completely or partly) by the tobacco industry, nor does it receive any funding from any participant of the tobacco industry.”

The UK Vaping Industry Association says a copy of the letter was also sent to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, Andrew Gwynne, and the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Health and Social Care, Dr Zubir Ahmed MP.

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.