UKVIA is the largest trade body representing the vaping industry, which has reinforced its call for a range of get-tough measures to crack down on unscrupulous retailers who sell vapes to young people, including fines of £10k and a national retail licensing scheme. This comes as a survey from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that the proportion of children aged 11-17 who vape has risen from 4% in 2020 to 7% this year. It also found that disposable vapes are the most popular products among 52% of under-aged vapers.
The UKVIA`s Director General John Dunne responded in an interview to the report that UKVIA understands the need for the right balance between supporting adult smokers to quit without encouraging take up amongst under-18s and ‘never smoker’. The Director General reported that UKVIA wrote to the Department for Health and Social Care to address the issue of child access to vapes, proposing a set of recommendations to come down hard on those who sell vapes to minors whilst maintaining vaping`s critical role in helping smokers to quit. The proposed recommendations included:
- The introduction of a licensing or approved retailer and distributor scheme in accordance with the UK e-cigarettes regulations whereby vape retailers both online and in-store and distributors on the scheme would pay a fee, stick to strong age verification practices and commit those products they sell are both notified with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and complaints with Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) Regulation.
- Serving increased penalties of at least £10,000 per instance on traders flouting UK law. Should two fines be issued, a retailer would lose its ‘approved retailer’ status as seen here
- Commission a national test purchasing scheme similar to the one the UKVIA runs for its members to ensure all operations are performing to high standards when it comes to preventing youth access to e-cigarettes. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/licensing-procedure-for-electronic-cigarettes-as-medicines)
- Ensure Trading Standards are effectively resourced, such that it can recruit and train officers, dispose of illicit products, and ensure its actions are an effective deterrent to rogue actors across the supply chain. Such funding would be sourced from the proposed licensing scheme and eventually, from fines issued for illegal trading.
- Adopt into legislation the UKVIA`s packaging, labeling and flavor names guidelines to prevent branding that inadvertently appeals to non-smokers or under-18s. These guidelines reflect recommendations from the Khan Review.
- Introduce non-nicotine-containing e-liquids to the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR). According to the source, regulating all e-liquids in this way will further bear down on youth access and improve the quality of products offered for sale.
The Director General John Dunne of UKVIA concluded that together these actions will help vaping fulfill the vital role that the recently published Khan review sees for the category in making smoking obsolete in the most responsible manner.
Members work to strict supply chain and packaging, labeling, and flavor name guidelines, but more is needed to bear down on rogue traders outside the membership who flout the law and have no qualms about selling vapes to minors. Make no mistake, the issues of youth access to vaping sit firmly with unscrupulous traders who are happy to sell to children.
To combat the rising numbers of children vaping, the supply of vapes to the under-aged has to be cut off at the source. However, there is an important role for the industry, regulators, the education sector, and enforcement bodies to collaborate to ensure that vapes do not fall into the wrong hands.
