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Tag: UKVIA

  • U.K. Vape Industry Warns ‘Pride in Place’ Plan Could Backfire

    U.K. Vape Industry Warns ‘Pride in Place’ Plan Could Backfire

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has branded Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Pride in Place program “seriously flawed,” warning it risks driving ex-smokers back to cigarettes and fueling the illicit vape trade. The plan would allow residents to block new vape shops on their high streets. UKVIA Director General John Dunne said this wrongly equates specialist vape stores with betting shops and other “unwanted” outlets, despite vaping being “the most effective method of helping adult smokers quit.”

    Instead, UKVIA is urging the government to introduce a compulsory vape retail licensing scheme, funded by retailers, to keep vapes out of unsuitable venues and support tougher enforcement against rogue sellers. Dunne argued that blocking legitimate vape stores undermines the U.K.’s smoke-free targets and risks strengthening the black market.

  • UKVIA Says Disposable Ban Driving Smokers Back to Tobacco

    UKVIA Says Disposable Ban Driving Smokers Back to Tobacco

    The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) says new research confirms fears that the UK’s ban on single-use vapes is backfiring, with 26% of former disposable vape users now smoking more, returning to tobacco, or buying illicit products. A survey of 6,000 vapers and smokers, commissioned by ELFBAR, also found that over half of adults (51%) wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as smoking, and awareness of illegal vapes has risen to 22%.

    UKVIA Director General John Dunne called the figures “deeply worrying,” warning that a blanket ban on disposables undermines efforts to achieve a smoke-free UK. The trade body is urging the government to launch a nationwide public health campaign on vaping’s relative safety, introduce a licensing scheme for vape retailers, reinvest licensing revenue into enforcement, and impose £10,000 fines on those selling to minors or trading illicit products.

    “It never made any sense to us to ban this entire category, and now we have concrete evidence that more than a quarter of vapers have either resumed smoking, increased tobacco use, or purchased illicit products since the ban,” Dunne said. “Any one of those outcomes would be bad enough, but all three combined should be deeply worrying and urgent action must be taken to reverse this trend. If these are the numbers we are seeing after two months, then I dread to think where we will be in a year’s time.”

  • UK Vaping Industry Sounds Alarm Over Rising Youth Smoking Rates

    UK Vaping Industry Sounds Alarm Over Rising Youth Smoking Rates

    The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) raised concerns over new data showing a sharp rise in youth smoking. According to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the proportion of 11–17-year-olds who have ever smoked jumped from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2025.

    While youth vaping rates remain steady at one-in-five, UKVIA Director General John Dunne called the uptick in youth smoking “deeply troubling” and urged urgent action.

    “We need a national licensing scheme to crack down on rogue retailers selling age-restricted products to minors,” said Dunne, adding that enforcement is currently “patchy” and penalties are too lenient.

    The survey also highlights growing public misperceptions: over half of adult smokers now believe vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking, up sharply from previous years. Dunne called for a national campaign to correct misinformation and reaffirmed vaping as “the UK’s most effective quit aid” for adult smokers. Despite challenges, 10% of UK adults—around 5.5 million—now vape.

  • New ASH data showing a rise in youth smoking is ‘deeply troubling’ says UK Vaping Industry Association

    New ASH data showing a rise in youth smoking is ‘deeply troubling’ says UK Vaping Industry Association

    PRESS RELEASE

    The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is alarmed at new data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) which reveals a worrying increase in the numbers of young people smoking.

    The new data reveals that one-in-five 11-17-year-olds have tried vaping, unchanged since 2023, while ever smoking among young people has increased from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2025.

    Vaping prevalence among adults remains at 10.4%, unchanged since 2024, suggesting the growth in uptake has stalled. With around a quarter of adult smokers in GB never having tried vaping, this is an issue which must be urgently addressed.

    UKVIA Director General John Dunne said: “The UKVIA has always been clear that under 18s should not be vaping (or smoking for that matter) and it is deeply troubling to see smoking rates rise, particularly after a long period of decline and especially so among under 18s.

    “We can’t afford to wait a moment longer to clamp down hard on retailers who sell age-gated products to minors. This is why we need a vape licensing scheme to ensure compliance with the law, put persistent offenders out of business and act as a deterrent to others.

    “Enforcement in the UK is patchy at best, fines are woefully low and rogue retailers will continue flouting the law if they think they can get away with it.”

    The ASH data on adult vaping trends shows that misperceptions about vaping harms have increased, with 53% of adult smokers believing that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking. The ASH youth survey revealed that 63% of young people have the same misperception – up from 41% in 2022.

    John added: “The misperceptions regarding the relative risks of smoking and vaping threaten to derail the government’s smokefree goals and we need a national public health information campaign to set the record straight.

    “The rise in youth smoking experimentation should be a wake-up call for the government. Policies must prioritise reducing youth access to all nicotine products and not come at the cost of reversing progress on smoking rates.

    “We urge public health authorities to step up efforts to communicate the clear scientific consensus that vaping is significantly less harmful than combustible tobacco use  and remains the UK’s most effective quit aid for adult smokers. Smoking still claims 220 lives every day in the UK and we must bring these numbers down.

    “As the UK moves into a new regulatory phase following the ban on single-use vapes, the UKVIA and its members remain committed to working with regulators, trading standards and public health experts to ensure products stay out of children’s hands while remaining accessible and appealing to adult smokers who want to quit.”

    On a more positive note, the figures show that 10% of GB adults vape, equal to an estimated 5.5 million people.

  • UKVIA Forum Kicks Off

    UKVIA Forum Kicks Off

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association’s (UKVIA) annual Industry Forum will take place at the London Marriott Hotel Regents Park on Friday, Nov. 15.

    The event will feature a program of timely panel discussions, including “Politics in the Spotlight”; “Closing the Trust Gap”; “Adding Consumers to the Conversation”; and “The Balancing Act,” which will explore the best route to further unlock vaping’s potential to improve harm reduction while also protecting young people.

    It will also include a panel discussion titled “Killing the Black Market, Not the Consumers,” which will look at how interventions such as a vape retailer and distributor licensing scheme could put a stop to rogue traders for good and bring about a new age of responsibility and accountability for the sector.

    “The industry has long been calling for stronger action against the unscrupulous sellers who flout the law and put young people, consumers and legitimate businesses at risk, and we were delighted to see the inclusion of licensing in the new government’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.

    “Earlier this year, the UKVIA was involved in the development of a vape retailer and distributor licensing framework, which would prevent inappropriate businesses—including sweet shops—from ever selling these products, would bring into force stronger penalties for those breaking the rules and would generate upward of £50 million [$63.65 million] per year in self-sustaining funding, which could be used to empower Trading Standards.”

    This year’s UKVIA Forum will also feature a keynote on the “new era of enforcement” from Kate Pike, lead officer for vaping with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, as well as a Q&A with Orla Menzies, the vaping policy lead for HMRC, and—for the first time—an onstage showcase where five companies will discuss how they are adapting their product offerings and leading on innovation across the sector.

  • U.K. Announces Cigarette and Vape Tax Hikes

    U.K. Announces Cigarette and Vape Tax Hikes

    Image: John Gomez

    The U.K. government will increase tobacco duties by 2 percent above inflation for the remainder of the current parliamentary session and increase duty by a further 10 percent on roll-your-own tobacco this year, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced during the presentation of her budget plans on Oct. 30. From October 2026, the U.K. will also introduce a flat-rate duty on all vaping liquid alongside an additional one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain the incentive to give up smoking, reports Reuters.

    Smokers’ rights activists warned that the plans would backfire.

    “Increasing the tax on tobacco above inflation will drive even more smokers to the black market, fueling illicit trade and hurting legitimate retailers,” said Simon Clark, director of FOREST, in a statement.

    “It discriminates against consumers from poorer backgrounds for whom smoking may be one of the few pleasures available to them.

    “Instead of punishing the low-paid, the government should focus on improving the environmental conditions that drive many people to smoke in the first place.”

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) described the planned duty on e-liquid as a penalty for smokers seeking to transition to less harmful nicotine products.

    “Whilst a flat-rate tax versus one graded on different nicotine strengths is favored so as not to deter smokers who rely on higher concentrations of nicotine when they start transitioning over to vapes, the additional cost of £2.64 (including VAT) per 10 ml of e-liquid is a kick in the teeth for former adult smokers who have switched to vaping to quit their habits. It will also be the highest rate in Europe,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.

    “Some 3 million adults are former smokers thanks to vaping, which is strongly evidenced as the most effective way to quit conventional cigarettes, saving the NHS [National Health Service] millions of pounds in treating patients with smoking-related conditions. This announcement today deters adult smokers from considering vapes as a method to give up their habits and hits the lowest-paid who go for more price-sensitive e-liquid options, which currently start at 99 pence and will rise to £3.83, representing a shocking rise of 267 percent.

    “For a government that places a great focus on the NHS, it is a nonsensical move to put a severe punitive tax level on vaping when the category has done so much to reduce the number of adult smokers requiring medical attention by being a driving force in the decline of smoking rates to record-low levels in recent years.”

  • UKVIA Urges Balance in Vape Legislation

    UKVIA Urges Balance in Vape Legislation

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has warned policymakers ahead of the Tobacco & Vapes Bill that it has to strike the right balance between introducing new vaping legislation and ensuring that it does not deter smokers from giving up by switching to considerably less harmful vapes.

    On Oct. 24, the U.K. government announced that disposable vapes will be banned from June next year,

    In a statement, the UKVIA reminded policymakers that vaping and disposable vapes have made a huge contribution to bringing down smoking rates amongst adults to the lowest levels on record in recent years.

    “We recognize that disposable vapes have divided opinion, but their accessibility and convenience, particularly amongst low income groups who are the most prevalent smokers, should not be forgotten and highlights the careful balancing act required in future legislation so that it does not penalize those adult smokers that want to give up by using vapes, which have been evidenced to be the most effective method in quitting cigarettes,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA.

    “We have not shied away from the fact that the environmental impact and youth vaping challenges associated with disposables need to be addressed head on. Also, this announcement does nothing to stop the import of disposable vapes, which means there is a ready supply entering the country which will make their way onto the black market.

    “Bans are not the answer as we’ve seen in other parts of the world, such as Australia, as they will only boost the black market which will pose significant risks to young people and the environment.

    This announcement does nothing to stop the import of disposable vapes, which means there is a ready supply entering the country which will make their way onto the black market.

    John Dunne, director general, UKVIA

    “What’s needed is greater enforcement of current laws in place which make it a legal requirement for vape traders not to sell to children under the age of 18 and to comply with environmental legislation such as the WEEE regulations. However, recent Freedom of Information requests sent to Trading Standards nationally, the Environmental Agency and Office for Product Safety and Standards shows extremely low levels of enforcement in terms of the penalties and prosecutions that would make rogue traders think twice about breaking the law.”

    “It’s why we have campaigned for a vape retailer and distributor licensing scheme. To qualify for a license, retailers will need to show they have put measures in place to prevent the sale of vapes to minors. Distributors will also need to ensure they are meeting environmental obligations, as well as ensuring they only stock and sell compliant goods. As part of this scheme we are also calling for up to £10,000 [$12,976)] and £100,000 fines for retailers and distributors respectively who break the law, and together with the money that the licensing scheme will raise—estimated to be £50 million—this will be used to fund the level of enforcement that is required.”

  • ‘Never Smoker’ Ill-Defined in Study: UKVIA

    ‘Never Smoker’ Ill-Defined in Study: UKVIA

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    A recent study suggesting there are more vapers without a history of smoking in England improperly defines “never smokers,” according to the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).

    “This new research talks about ‘never-regular-smokers’ vaping, their definition for this being people who have not smoked for more than a year,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.

    “This definition is problematic as it does not exclusively include what most people would define as nonsmokers. As the study authors also point out, it is impossible to say if their cohort, whether experimenting with cigarettes already or not, would not have become smokers were it not for vapes.

    “The authors themselves also note that some people have genes and circumstances leading them to like nicotine products; traditionally, they ended up smoking, but some are now discovering vaping without becoming smokers first. If vaping did not exist, they would be smoking.

    “Vaping should only be for smokers looking to quit, but we also need to ensure that those smokers continue to have access to what they need in order to quit.”    

  • Medical Group Urges Action Against Vaping

    Medical Group Urges Action Against Vaping

    Photo:Mikhail Reschetnikov

    The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling on the government to stop the growth of vaping in the U.K.

    In a report titled Taking Our Breath Away: Why We Need Stronger Regulation of Vapes, the BMA sets out its blueprint for what legislation should include to tackle rising vape use, especially among children and young people. Recommendations include:

    • banning the commercial sale of all disposable vapes;
    • banning all nontobacco vape flavors;
    • prohibiting the use of all imagery, coloring and branding for both the packaging and vape device, similar to current restrictions on cigarettes;
    • further restrictions on all advertising and marketing, and ensuring vapes are kept behind the counter and not on display in shops and retail outlets; and
    • government education campaigns for the public on the dangers of vapes to reduce appeal, especially among children and young people.

    While the BMA recognizes that vapes can be a useful tool in helping some people to stop smoking cigarettes, the organization stresses that they offer a less dangerous rather than a risk-free alternative. “Vaping can lead to nicotine addiction, with nicotine having the potential to cause health problems such as high blood pressure and increased risk of COPD,” the BMA wrote in a statement. “Further, some e-cigarettes have been found to contain other harmful substances such as lead.”

    Vaping industry representatives cautioned that the proposed measures could have unintended consequences.

    “The UKVIA [U.K. Vaping Industry Association] agrees that stronger measures are needed to cut off the supply of youth vaping and illicit products; however, actions laid out in this report would sooner supercharge the black market and push the nation’s smoke-free ambitions further out of reach by deterring adult smokers from making the switch and driving current vapers into the hands of underground sellers or back to cigarettes,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA, in a statement.

    “The BMA undersells the quitting power of vapes when it says the reduced-risk alternative ‘can be useful in helping some people to stop smoking.’ The latest data from leading public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) U.K. found more than half of ex-smokers in Great Britain who quit in the past five years used a vape in their last attempt—ASH also reports that current and ever use of vapes among 11[-year-olds to] 17-year-olds has decreased since last year.”

  • UKVIA Warns Against ‘Spice’ Vapes

    UKVIA Warns Against ‘Spice’ Vapes

    Photo: fedorovacz

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has cautioned consumers about an increase in illegal “Spice vapes” and called for urgent government action to protect young people.

    The warning follows reports of people misusing “open” vape devices—which allow consumers to add e-liquid—to deliver synthetic cannabinoids such as Spice and the psychoactive chemical THC, which is found in cannabis. Spice is a nickname for a substance containing one or more synthetic cannabinoids.

    UKVIA stated that the regulated nicotine vape industry is in no way connected with the trend of using open vape devices as a delivery mechanism for illegal drugs.

    “Consumers can feel confident that when they buy regulated products from any reputable vape supplier, that they will be getting nicotine vapes which are designed to help them transition from cigarettes,” said UKVIA Director General John Dunne in a statement.

    “I am worried, however, that there are vape devices available from unofficial sources which may contain illegal drugs and that those who buy them may have no idea what is contained in these products.”

    According to Office for Health Improvement & Disparities statistics, of the 12,418 young people under 18 in contact with alcohol and drug services between April 2022 and March 2023, cannabis was the most common substance (87 percent) for which young people sought treatment. While 10,837 young people reported having a problem with cannabis only 1,737 said they had a problem with nicotine.

    “We need the government to step on now with a nationwide education campaign in traditional and social media to highlight the dangers of obtaining vape devices from unofficial sources and explaining the differences between legal and illegal vape products,” said Dunne.

    “Unless a clear distinction is made between the regulated vape market supplying adult smokers with products which are 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes and the unofficial supply of illegal products, then people will become wary of all vapes with the potential to drive smoking rates back up again.”