Glossary
SCOTSS: The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland
TARP: the National Tobacco and Age Restricted Products
background
Throughout the summer of 2021, various news reports and information from Trading Standards across the UK suggested that retailers in Scotland may be selling many illegal single-use nicotine vaping products (NVPs). Some of these reports suggest that the devices are being used by young people under the age of 18.
Two authorities in Scotland conducted an initial monitoring of the single-use vaping device market in September 2021. Preliminary monitoring has concluded that they are widely available across Scotland, not only in retail premises but also on the internet.
and found
Many products do not comply with the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 (TRPR Regulations).
Many e-cigarettes on sale are not listed on the MHRA website, and can only be sold legally when the product is published on the MHRA website;
There are advertisements for disposable electronic cigarettes with an e-liquid content exceeding 2mL on the Internet;
There are advertisements for single-use electronic cigarettes with nicotine concentrations exceeding 20mg/mL on the Internet;
Labels for these devices must include the manufacturer and importer, and if both are outside GB, a GB representative is required. Many devices are packaged without anyone's GB name (GB=Great Britain);
Instructions for use and storage information are often missing from packaging;
Health warnings on the packaging of single-use vaping devices are missing, wrongly worded, or not prominent enough. Health warnings must be on the front and back of the package and cover at least 30% of the area,
Packaging must not imply that the device has energizing, revitalizing, healing, rejuvenating, natural or organic properties. Some single-use devices have a flavor that refers to the word "Energy", thus implying energy properties. For example, "Energy Burst", "Strawberry Energy", and "Energy Ice".
There is evidence that young people under the age of 18 can use single-use vaping devices. Preliminary investigations by the school and Police Scotland have found particular problems with the use of the devices by young people, often in school premises. The devices describe the school toilets as "the new shisha lounge" on social media. Social media encourages their use. Under the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010, it is illegal for anyone to provide NVP to anyone under the age of 18, but the equipment is available and being used by students.
Packaging of single-use electronic cigarette devices lacks the information required by CLP Regulation 1272/2008 (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) (“CLP Regulation”). They often lack tactile warning signs. Some have no CLP information at all.
During this monitoring period, communications with some suppliers indicated that there may be problems with counterfeit single-use vaping devices, in contravention of the Trade Marks Act 1994. A brand initially claimed to Trading Standards that around a third of its branded equipment sold in the UK was counterfeit.
In early October 2021, these findings were referred to SCOTSS and TARP, who then agreed to undertake a detailed investigation project across Scotland. The survey will run from October 15, 2021 to December 24, 2021.
Each participating authority is free to take any enforcement action they deem necessary in accordance with their authority's enforcement policy. The project agreement provides some guidance and outlines the goals of any enforcement action.
Project Objectives
Notify suppliers of issues we find and remind them of their obligation not to provide a one-time NVP to anyone under the age of 18.
Visit suppliers at wholesale and retailer level, check inventory and provide appropriate guidance and/or enforcement action. The main purpose of this participation is to:
Stop selling non-compliant product inventory within retail premises,
Trace the routes of wholesalers and importers and prevent non-compliant products from entering the market,
Check product labelling compliance,
Confirm that the product has been registered with MHRA,
Check nebulizer capacity and nicotine concentration,
Confirm supplier details and notify the Trading Standards authority of any compliance issues with that supplier via email and IDB intelligence database logs.
Local authorities are being asked to contact and send information to their education authorities and schools to explain the issues and to encourage an open dialogue about students' use of these products.
Formal product testing is not part of the project.
Project conclusion
Twenty-one local authorities in Scotland provided statistics on their participation in the project.
A total of 721 venues were visited during the 10 weeks from October 15 to December 24, 2021. Most of the venues visited were retailers, but wholesalers were also visited.
88,839 single-use vaping devices were removed from shelves. They were either not properly labelled in accordance with the TRPR regulations, did not contain sufficient CLP regulation information, or were not published on the MHRA website.
3,683 disposable electronic cigarette devices were seized. Their capacity exceeds the legal limit of 2ml.
During the project, some novel devices were discovered.
The entire device glows when you puff. The concern here is not only TRPR non-compliance, but the luminous aspect that might make them more child-appealing. There are also some products that have 2 separate atomizers, and the flavor of e-liquid in each atomizer is different, and the user can choose which flavor to use.
GB representative: At the beginning of the project, many product labels were not on the label, and the project was improved later, but some temporarily added GB representative information covered some safety information on the label.
More than 95% of product labels lack product safety information, such as instructions for use, safe product storage conditions, and especially non-smokers and people with certain medical conditions should not use them.
Nicotine dose: Many products lack nicotine dose information. Nicotine dose refers to the mass of nicotine contained in the smoke in each puff, usually expressed in mg/puff or mcg/puff.
About 70% of all products inspected have not yet been approved by MHRA and published on their website. The MHRA database shows that 89 e-cigarettes are named with the word Energy. The survey also found that some products used the word Lite. After communicating with the supplier, the supplier said that it would use a new name.
suggestion
Disposable vaping devices should be inspected by Trading Standards when entering the UK.
There's no reason for these devices to be brightly colored for any reason other than for aesthetic reasons. The vast majority of flavors are fruit-based, such as Bubble-gum, Candy, Sherbert, Gummies. The use of these names and their designs makes these devices particularly appealing to young people.
Millions of single-use vaping devices are imported into the UK each year, which contain lithium batteries. According to the Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009, collection/collection and recycling of batteries and accumulators should be mandatory; batteries and accumulators should be prevented from being incinerated or dumped in landfills. They should not be disposed of through the normal household waste system. The project found no evidence of any take-back plans at any of the sites they visited. They are not collected or brought back, but are discarded as general waste, go to landfills, incinerated; or they are simply thrown away as trash.
Nicotine is a CLP listed product, so a tactile label is required.
Inspection of packaging and single-use vaping devices as part of the MHRA registration process will provide greater control over product compliance.
Article 37 of the TRPR does not clarify the exact meaning of delivery dose, and MHRA does not clearly state it on its website, which leads to differences in understanding. It is hoped that MHRA can add clear advice on its website.
