UKVIA shares trading standards body’s concern over illegal vapes  

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said they share the concern raised by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) on the growth of non-compliant vapes in the UK market.

Last week, the trading standards body has issued a statement alleging that such vapes have flooded the UK market and called for urgent support and clarification from the government.

“We share the CTSI’s concern over the growth in illicit and underage vape product sales and fully support their call for more resources,” the UKVIA said in a statement.

"We also agree wholeheartedly that restrictions need to be explored to address youth vaping without impacting on adult smokers who wish to switch to vaping in order to quit their habits.”

The vape industry body added that they are leading the way in forming a Youth Access Prevention Taskforce to develop detailed proposals to deal with the situation and these include:

• On-the-spot fines of up to £10,000 per instance for retailers who are found to be selling to minors and for selling illicit products,
• a national registration scheme for all retailers meaning only those outlets that meet qualifying criteria can legally sell vapes and
• a national test purchasing scheme which will ensure constant monitoring of retailers’ selling vapes to ensure that they are not turning a blind eye to purchases involving minors.

“Critical to the success of our proposals will be a ramping up of enforcement and this requires major funding in resources on the ground,” the UKVIA noted.

“By Trading Standards' own admission, resources are sadly lacking and the government needs to step in and look at this situation as a matter of urgency. Our proposals are designed to support this funding need as monies will be raised from the fines and registration scheme.”

The UKVIA said they will be presenting the proposals to the government and parliamentarians at the end of March.