The government has opened a consultation into proposals for regulating tobacco, vaping and nicotine product packaging, device appearance and retail displays under the Tobacco and Vapes Act and are seeking views on proposals for UK restrictions on:
- tobacco packaging
- vaping and nicotine products
- appearance of heated tobacco devices and vaping devices
- retail display of tobacco, vaping and nicotine products
The proposals were announced in a press release Ministers launch crackdown on vapes targeting kids which says: “Plans to stop vapes being marketed to children have been unveiled today (10 July) as part of a UK-wide consultation to introduce plain packaging, restrictions on flavour description rules and keeping vapes out of sight in shops.
“The UK government and the devolved governments have launched a consultation that includes proposals to reduce the appeal of vapes to young children, including white packaging with restrictions on text colour, imagery, branding and standardised product information. There will also be restrictions on flavour names to simple recognisable descriptions and vape devices to be white, black or grey.”
In response, the UKVIA has issued the following statement:
“These proposals are not a balanced response to youth vaping. They are a reckless public health own goal that could drive adult smokers back towards cigarettes and undermine more than a decade of progress in reducing smoking.
“Vaping has been one of the great public health success stories of the past ten years. It has become the country’s most popular quitting aid, is one of the most effective ways for adults to stop smoking and has helped millions of people leave cigarettes behind.
“Yet this extraordinary success is almost entirely ignored by proposals that would force vapes into plain packaging, strip products of the information adult smokers use to make choices and hide them from view as though they present the same risk as tobacco.
“This is not evidence-led policymaking. It is regulation driven by appearances, and it threatens to erase the vital distinction between a product that kills and an alternative that has helped millions of smokers quit.
“The government’s suggestion that bright colours are a principal cause of youth vaping is not supported by its own evidence base. ASH’s research shows that curiosity and peer influence are the leading reasons young people try vaping.
“Among current youth vapers surveyed by ASH, only 4.9% said what a vape looks like was the most important consideration when choosing which product to use. By comparison, 42% cited what it tastes like. Packaging may have some influence on appeal, but the evidence simply does not establish bright colours as the main driver of youth uptake.
“We fully support firm action to prevent children accessing vaping products. Those who sell to children, market deliberately to children or supply illegal products should face meaningful penalties and enforcement with real teeth.
“That is why the UKVIA wants to see a vape retail licensing scheme which would allow vapes to be sold wherever cigarettes are sold, but prevent nail bars, fast food outlets and barber shops from doing so. Licensing could also fund Trading Standards to the tune of £50M per year to allow enforcement teams to clamp down hard on those who sell to children.
“Treating vapes like cigarettes at the point of sale will also reinforce one of the most dangerous misconceptions in public health. ASH has shown, year after year, that growing numbers of smokers wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as, or more harmful than, smoking.
“The government now proposes to take two fundamentally different products, place them under similar packaging and display restrictions and then expect smokers to understand that one is far less harmful than the other. That makes no sense whatsoever.
“Plain packaging and display bans will hand an enormous commercial advantage to the illicit market. Illegal traders do not comply with packaging rules, product standards, flavour restrictions or age-verification requirements. Ministers risk strangling the regulated market while allowing criminals to flourish.
“Public policy must reflect that reality rather than deliberately blur it. Protecting children and helping adults quit smoking are not competing objectives as both can be achieved through tougher enforcement, responsible regulation and honest communication about relative risk. These proposals disregard the evidence, ignore vaping’s remarkable contribution to reducing smoking and risk reversing one of Britain’s most important public health achievements.”
The consultation runs until 11:59pm on Friday October 2, 2026.