British vaping after Brexit: what will replace TPD laws?

It may sound glib to say things are in flux right now when we’re in the midst of a pandemic, but in terms of vaping in the UK, things certainly might feel like they’re in flux. Specifically, in terms of British vaping’s relationship with legislation. Primarily, this is because vapers and, arguably more pertinently, vaping manufactures and retailers are trying to work out where the industry stands (what exactly vapers are allowed to vape and what exactly retailers are allowed to sell) in the wake of the UK leaving the European Union.

Up to the end of last year, the point at which the UK left the EU, every e liquid manufacturer UK and retailer had to make sure their products adhered to the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which came into force in 2017. Roughly speaking, the TPD was supposedly introduced to cover the safety and quality standards of products and their packaging. So, the main TPD rules that covered UK vape products were¹:

1. The maximum volume of a vape device tank must not exceed 20ml.
2. The maximum volume of an individual e-liquid bottle must not exceed 10ml.
3. The nicotine strength of each vape juice bottle must not exceed 20mg/ ml (2%)
4. The packaging of all nicotine-containing vape juices must be tamper-proof.
5. TPD e-liquids online (or bought in a shop) must not contain caffeine, taurine or colourings.
6. The labelling on the packaging of all vape juices must abide by strict rules (including specific warnings).

Where do we stand now?

The uninformed may be forgiven for thinking that, now the UK has left the EU, it’s all change for vaping laws. So, is it? Well, as is true for a good deal of EU legislation that the UK used to adhere to but is now free to alter should it see fit, much if not all current vaping legislation probably won’t change dramatically; in fact, some of it’s likely to remain exactly the same and will be simply written into UK law.

For instance, while the UK Government now insists that, before they can be sold, all e-liquids, vape devices and vaping products of any kind must be registered with its Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the reality is that, between 2017 and the end of 2020, all such products had to be registered with the MHRA anyway, in an arrangement that was agreed with and facilitated by the EU.

Granted, some changes are now necessary for the packaging of vape products, since the imagery and wording on them can no longer reference EU legislation and need instead to refer to UK laws. That said, these changes will likely affect smoking/ tobacco products more than vape products (the former were covered by the TPD as well as the latter). Plus, needless to say, as trade agreements between the UK and EU are ironed out, exactly how vape products are tracked between them will alter. However, just how the likes of that will shake out may not be known any time soon.

So, all told then, apart from the aforementioned changes British vaping faces, it’s unlikely the average vaper (if there is such a thing) will notice that many differences to their experience of buying, say, a 50 50 e liquid. All the same, changes could of course, be made to UK vaping legislation at any time – and potentially drastic ones, at that.

Given the UK Government has been, since the beginning, fairly friendly to vaping (thanks to its obvious health benefits versus smoking), many of those in-the-know hope legislators may decide to relax laws previously set in stone by the TPD, but the wind could change, and laws could end up becoming stiffer. The truth is nobody really knows – so watch this space!