Trading Standards Highlight Issues Relating to Non-compliant Vapes

This article is more than 1 year old

The UK market has seen a significant influx of non-compliant single use vaping products, leading to growing concerns among Person with upturned hands each holding a vape Trading Standards regarding the high volume of these vapes available on the market. Current regulations require vapes to have tanks with a maximum capacity of 2ml, nicotine strength under 20mg/ml, display health warnings and provide manufacturer details on their labels.

Fife Council’s Trading Standards Team continue to inspect shops and follow up complaints relating to the sale of single use vapes.  During 2021/22, officers conducted 142 advisory visits. These visits included the inspection of vapes being offered for sale.

Many of the inspections in Fife have uncovered non-complaint vapes with some products not being labelled correctly, providing no UK contact details and tanks sizes in excess of the 2ml legal requirement, in some cases, 5 times more liquid than the legal limits.

Despite the diligent efforts of Trading Standards across the UK, tackling the surge of non-compliant vapes being sold by retailers, a larger concern looms regarding the supply chain deficiencies.

Trading Standards are also faced with the challenge of the costs of the disposal of vapes which can be considerable.

A recent statement issued from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) calls for support from Government in relation to non-compliant products. “We need greater resources to support us in undertaking enforcement work.  There needs to be a wider review of the regulations to make sure they are keeping up with product development and market changes”.

Dawn Adamson, Fife Council Trading Standards’ Manager, said: “As the market for disposable vapes continues to grow, Trading Standards faces increasing challenges in ensuring compliance. The substantial increase of 241% in non-compliant vapes seized by Fife Trading Standards officers in one year, highlights the scale of this issue (616 vapes seized in 2021/22 and 2102 vapes were seized in 2022/23). We remain committed to addressing these challenges and protecting consumers”