As previously reported in depth, the Government is currently in the process of consulting on its plans to force vapes and nicotine pouches behind the counter to protect under 18s.
However, campaign group We Vape notes the consultation is still happening, but the Government has admitted it hasn’t finished research into whether the new rules will actually work.
Hidden away
Two papers published with the consultation into plain packaging, appearance and display – which closes on 2 October - set out a tobacco-style plan to limit vape device design and hide products from view.
We Vape is now urging retailers, staff, vapers and consumers to respond to the consultation before the 2 October deadline.
On device colour, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it’s “in the process of commissioning survey-based research… to determine the impact the appearance of the device has on young people’s interest in trying the vape.”
We Vape adds that the survey - carried out by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) - “should be available in time to inform the drafting of regulations.”
New proposals
On shop displays, the DHSC writes that it “has commissioned research… to better understand the potential impact of our proposed regulatory approach.” That work “will be conducted via a discrete choice experiment,” again through NIHR.
We Vape points out that in both instances there is no caveat for delay. And with the preferred options already set out, the group is concerned ministers would proceed regardless of the research being made available in time.
The moves also mean the public is being asked to comment on rules that will make it harder to see and choose products smokers use to quit – written before officials have collected the evidence they say they need to draft future law.
We Vape founder, Mark Oates, said: “They want views on the colour of a device and the layout of a counter before they’ve finished the studies that are supposed to tell them whether those rules will even work. That is consulting first and evidencing later.
“If the research arrives only when the rules are written - or worse, after they’re written - the consultation is theatre.”
“If the research arrives only when the rules are written - or worse, after they’re written - the consultation is theatre. Adult smokers who vape to quit should not pay for a policy the Government has not finished measuring and we’ll be watching closely to see if this as yet unfinished research is used to inform decisions on regulation.
“We encourage everyone who cares about vaping and harm reduction to engage in the consultation to make their views clear.”
Impact assessment
The documents concerned are on Restricting the appearance of vapes and heated tobacco products: impact assessment and Restricting the display of vaping, nicotine products and tobacco related devices and products: impact assessment.
One paper refuses to publish a Net Present Social Value - the standard test of whether a policy’s benefits outweigh its costs.
The other estimates more than £330 million in lost profit for the sector from restricting how the devices look, but cannot put a pound figure on any benefit.
As well as incomplete research, the government has used data on cigarette packets from 2015 to formulate its proposals, due, it says, to a lack of information on vapes.
On adult smokers, it states that “due to limited data and evidence it has not been possible to estimate the potential number of individuals that would no longer quit smoking or return to smoking as a result of display restrictions.”
The live proposals would limit vape devices to white, black or grey, force heated tobacco devices into drab brown and treat shop displays of vapes and nicotine pouches like cigarettes.
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