With new vaping rules set to come into force in October, retailers caught selling vaping and nicotine products to under-18s will face £200 fixed penalty notices, while the rules will also extend age restrictions to cover all vaping products - including zero-nicotine vapes.
More serious offences can result in fines of up to £2,500.
However, questions remain over whether the new penalties will be enough to deter rogue retailers, particularly as Trading Standards enforcement activity has fallen. A consultation is also currently underway.
New data from supplier Vape Club’s 2026 report found there were 8,881 Trading Standards inspections of premises selling vaping devices, cigarettes and tobacco, or nicotine pouch products last year, representing a 5% decrease compared with the previous year, raising concerns that not enough is being done to enforce existing rules.
The findings come alongside evidence of the continued scale of illegal vape sales, with 1.3m seized across the UK in 2025, equivalent to nearly three every minute.
In response, Dan Marchant (left), director at Vape Club and founding member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), said: “We agree with the Government that action needs to be taken to protect children from vaping in the UK, due to the rising numbers of youth vaping.
”If young people cannot get the products they cannot use the products. That’s how we operate with cigarettes and that’s how we should operate with vaping.
“It’s pointless to create a raft of new regulations if the ones in place are not being enforced. The current regulations are not perfect. But they aren’t that bad - the issue is that there is an almost complete lack of enforcement.
“Retailers should be licensed to sell vape products. This doesn’t need to be prohibitively expensive, just enough to fund effective enforcement of the regulations. This would come in the form of a national test purchasing scheme, in which every retailer has multiple test purchases a year to ensure they are conducting correct age verification.”
Marchant went on to say the vape retail industry is, in fact, keen for more regulation: “The responsible side of the industry is literally begging for the authorities to enforce the regulations and take serious action against the businesses flouting the rules.
“The maximum fine should be increased from £2,500 to £10,000 in order for it to act as a real deterrent to rogue sellers.”
Further response
Also responding to the new regulations, Dr Marina Murphy, from pouch retailer Haypp, said the news would also affect the nicotine pouch industry: “We welcome the Government’s decision to bring age-verification regulations for nicotine products before Parliament. Age verification is a critical safeguard against youth access, yet evidence shows that too many rogue retailers, both online and on the high street, are failing to carry out effective checks.
“Age verification cannot be optional or inconsistently applied. Retailers selling nicotine products should be required to take robust, meaningful and demonstrable steps to establish that customers are over 18. This will protect young people and give responsible retailers confidence that they are competing on a level playing field.
”Parliament must ensure the final regulations deliver a strong, consistent and enforceable system of age verification across the nicotine market.”
You can read the full advice on new regulations and their timescales here.
No comments yet