A licensing framework for the UK vape industry has been put forward to parliament this week. The scheme, which has been designed to allow Trading Standards to tackle the rise of illicit vapes and underage vape sales, would be the first of its kind in the UK.
If you’ve been following our latest news, or keeping up with the recent media coverage, you’ll be aware that single-use disposable vape kits are set to be banned in the UK. The government’s reasons focus on tackling the rise in youth vaping; however, the UK already has regulations in place regarding the sale of vapes to minors, which an outright ban would not solve.
Banning legal disposables, and placing further restrictions on responsible vape retailers, will empower and boost the already-thriving black market. There aren’t sufficient ‘boots on the ground’ to deal with the current levels of rogue activity; and the one-off funding proposed by the government to bolster Trading Standards and Border Control is woefully inadequate.
Many conscientious vape retailers, like ourselves, have been pushing the idea of a licensing scheme for years. When it became obvious that no such framework would be forthcoming from the government, our friends at Vape Club decided to create the blueprint on behalf of all legitimate businesses across the vape industry.
What are the objectives of the vape retailer licensing scheme?
Vape Club is a founding member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), of which we are also full members. Following consultation with UKVIA stakeholders, Trading Standards officials, vape industry experts, and business owners across the convenience store and supermarket sector, they initiated a potential new legislation model with the following objectives:
What does the proposed licensing scheme involve?
First and foremost, the licensing scheme outlines who would be eligible for a vape retail licence. Currently, anyone has free rein to sell vapes - you can buy them in your local takeaway, the laundrette, a sweet shop, or from your Uber driver.
This is a completely ridiculous state of affairs that is creating a black market, exacerbating youth access, and generating media panic - all leading to government overreach. It also puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Trading Standards, which allows the rogue traders to stay under the radar.
To qualify for a vape retailer licence, vendors must prove that they:
- Actively prevent the sale of vapes to minors
- Only stock compliant products
- Operate legally across all areas of their business
- Meet their environmental obligations
- Train staff in the correct handling and promotion of vaping products
- Don’t sell products that are blatantly youth appealing
The proposed framework includes a self-sustaining fee structure, plus a fine and four-strike penalty system for any business that breaches the terms of the licence.
It will also empower Trading Standards to issue on-the-spot fines to any retailer or distributor caught selling vapes without a licence. The fines would be far more punitive than they currently are, with the highest fine for retailers proposed at £10k.
The best deterrent to committing a crime is the real and certain risk that you will be caught. The punishment needs to be severe enough to make sure it’s not a risk worth taking.
What are the expected outcomes of this framework?
We all want to ensure that adult smokers have access to vaping, which has been proven time and again to be a far less harmful alternative; not to mention the most effective method for successfully quitting tobacco for good.
We also want to ensure that the vaping products that adult smokers have access to are safe and legitimate, and that minors don’t have access to them at all.
This can only be achieved by proper enforcement, rather than prohibition. The revenue generated from licensing fees alone (not including fines) will deliver upwards of £50m each year to Trading Standards officials, so they can get tough on retailers guilty of underage and illicit vape sales.
Not only does this annual sum far surpass the government’s one-off pledge of 30m, it also removes the burden entirely from taxpayers, and puts it onto the vape industry.
Why do we want a vape retailer licensing scheme?
It may seem like an odd concept that an industry would voluntarily and vehemently push for a scheme that would not only cost money, but also impose mandatory compliance enforcement. However, we feel it’s the only logical way that we can remove rogue traders from the picture; thereby reducing the demand for illicit vapes to be imported, preventing youth access to vapes, and improving the general public perception of vaping.
We know that there simply isn’t the resource to enforce the existing legislation, and we are furious that the government’s solution to this is to deprive adult smokers from accessing legitimate vaping products."
Dan Marchant, co-founder of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) and managing director of Vape Club, said:
“It doesn’t matter what legislation the government introduces, whether the newly announced ban on disposables or any future restrictions, a robust and balanced licensing system is critical to ensuring the law can actually be enforced and for ushering in a new era of responsibility, accountability and best practice.
"Trading Standards has been calling for ‘more boots on the ground’ and a more joined up ‘national picture’ to deal with the issues of underage and illicit vape sales and there is no doubt that the introduction of prohibitive new measures will make this challenge even harder.
"The scheme we are proposing is not only self-funding but would be relatively quick and easy to implement and could generate upwards of £50 million in annual funding from retailers alone – this could, in part, be used as a sustainable funding base for enforcement.
"If our licensing scheme was in force, the 2,871 retailers identified as being in possession of, stocking or selling illegal vapes through the newly released FOI research would have been fined a collective £7.1m – alarmingly 95% of these rogue traders went ‘unpunished’ under the current system.”
What’s next for the licensing scheme?
The first phase of the framework creation followed a comprehensive six month consultation period, and the blueprint was distributed to MPs, peers in the House of Lords, Members of the Senedd, Members of the Scottish Parliament, senior civil servants, and health experts, before being unveiled in parliament.
A number of MPs have already publicly expressed support for the idea including Peter Gibson MP, Jim Shannon MP, Mary Kelly Foy MP, Mark Eastwood MP and Dr Caroline Johnson MP.
We now hope that further political momentum will be generated, and constructive feedback can be gathered to shape the vape licensing scheme towards successful implementation as soon as possible.
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About the author - Nicola Webster
Nicola Webster works as a researcher, consultant, and content creator for Vape UK. She holds a CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing and has developed her skills and knowledge of analytics and research over a 12 year career in product marketing. Her research led approach to campaigns and content writing ensures the articles she writes for Vape UK always have a basis in fact and cut through the noise. A strong advocate for tobacco harm reduction, Nicola is an ex-smoker thanks to vaping and wants others to understand the benefits of vaping compared to smoking. 
