The Department of Health & Social Care has published details of a new consultation on ‘Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping’, setting out a range of options to reduce vape product availability to young people and introduce new laws that would stop anyone born after the start of 2009 from ever being able to legally purchase tobacco.
The eight week consultation, published today, outlines the Government’s intention to raise the smoking age by one year every year until it eventually applies to the entire population. This would mean that it would be an offence to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after 1st January 2009 (and in Scotland, an offence to purchase tobacco products). The proposals mirror those that have been put in place in New Zealand, which will take effect in January 2027. The products covered in the proposals include cigarettes, cigars, heated tobacco, snuff and chewing tobacco, among others – although this is subject to confirmation through the consultation process.
On vaping, the consultation acknowledges the contribution that vapes have on helping smokers to quit, but has outlined the Government’s concerns about the appeal of vapes to non-smokers and to young people. The consultation proposes the following options to address this:
- restricting flavours
- regulating point of sale displays
- regulating packaging and presentation
- considering restricting the supply and sale of disposable vapes
- whether regulations should extend to non-nicotine vapes
- taking action on the affordability of vapes
One of the options being considered by the government is prohibiting the sale of disposable vape products, primarily due to the environmental impact that the littering of those products has. Disposable vapes contain lithium batteries, which are a limited and valuable natural resource that should be recycled after use. Under existing regulations, retailers who sell more than £100,000 worth of electrical products (including vapes) in a year must provide an in-store takeback service.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The convenience sector has a proud record on preventing under age purchases, and we will need support from the government to implement a totally new policy on tobacco age restriction. The government must consider all of the possible long term challenges for colleagues and retailers at the front line of implementing a generational ban on the sale of tobacco.”
“The availability of vaping has clearly helped smokers to quit and drive a reduction in smoking rates. The purpose of this consultation should be to properly regulate the vaping market and make sure it operates responsibly and sustainably. It’s clear that something needs to be done to reduce the impact that these products have on the environment, and these products should never be sold to or used by children. We welcome further discussion with the government on the options set out in the consultation.
“Current and future regulations must be enforced far better. It is unacceptable that responsible retailers are being undermined by others selling products that are already illegal, often to children. The Chancellor can address this in his Autumn Statement with further funding for Trading Standards to carry out more local enforcement activity against rogue vape sellers.”
The full consultation document is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping/creating-a-smokefree-generation-and-tackling-youth-vaping-your-views. ACS will be responding to the consultation in due course.
