Tobacco

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to focus on effective enforcement to deal with the huge illicit trade in vapes that will receive a £645m boost if disposable vapes are banned next year.

In response to the Government’s short consultation on the proposals to ban disposable vape devices from April 2025, ACS has highlighted a number of fundamental issues with DEFRA’s own impact assessment on the ban, warning that it has significantly underestimated the losses that will be felt by retailers.

ACS has called for better enforcement of existing regulations in response to the Government’s announcement that it is to ban disposable vapes.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has launched guidance for retailers on the upcoming ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes which comes into force from 20th May 2020.

The European Union Revised Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU) makes it an offence for manufacturers to produce menthol cigarettes and retailers to sell menthol cigarettes from 20th May 2020.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has responded to the Government’s latest consultation on tobacco track and trace regulations, reiterating concerns about the short lead times for implementation.

The consultation asks for views on the enforcement activity that will be introduced to police the track and trace system. In addition to concerns on the timeframes, ACS’ submission seeks clarification on the process for deactivation of identifier codes (which would effectively stop a retailer from selling tobacco in their business) if the regulations are breached.

ACS has responded to the publication of HM Revenue and Customs’ report on the prevalence of non-duty paid alcohol and illicit tobacco in the UK, reiterating calls for targeted action at a local level to reduce the impact of the illicit trade on responsible retailers.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, the tobacco tax gap driven by the illicit market in cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco is estimated to be £2.5 billion in 2016-17. Of this, £1.9 billion was lost in tobacco duties and a further £0.5 billion in VAT.