Trading Standards

Sale of Disposable Vapes To Be Banned 

The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in England from the 1 June 2025.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024 SI 2024 No. 1216 have now been published. 

Part 2 prohibits the supply, offer for supply or possession for supply of single-use vapes. Breach of these prohibitions is an offence (regulation 4), subject to the mutual recognition principle in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (c. 27) where applicable.

A civil sanctions regime enables regulators to impose a range of civil sanctions (regulation 9 and the Schedule). These are fixed monetary penalties, compliance notices, stop notices and enforcement undertakings. The Regulations make provision for the procedure relating to these sanctions and the available appeal mechanisms. Failure to comply with a stop notice is an offence (paragraph 16 of the Schedule). All appeals relating to a civil sanction are to the First-tier Tribunal.

Regulations 8 and 10 provide for enforcement officers to have powers of entry to carry out the necessary investigations in order to determine whether an offence has been committed.

Regulation 11 provides for the Secretary of State to give a direction for the disposal or other treatment of single-use vapes in respect of which an offence has been committed. Regulation 12 provides for publication of information on enforcement action taken by regulators. Regulation 13 provides that guidance relating to the use of civil sanctions must be prepared and consulted on, and specifies information to be included in such guidance. Regulation 14 contains provision for review of the Regulations.

Regulators are able to recover the costs of enforcement in the case of compliance notices and stop notices and must issue guidance about their use of enforcement cost recovery notices.