The UK government has launched a consultation on stricter regulations for vapes and nicotine pouches, including measures to place these products behind shop counters to reduce access for under-18s.
The consultation, set to conclude on October 2, outlines two primary proposals: limiting vape device colors to white, black, or grey, and controlling how these products are displayed in retail spaces. The government acknowledges it is still collecting evidence to determine whether these changes would reduce appeal among young people or discourage adult smokers from using vapes as a smoking cessation tool.
Supporting documents for the consultation reveal significant gaps in the available research. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirms it is funding surveys through the National Institute for Health and Care Research to evaluate how device colors influence young people’s interest. However, these studies have not yet been finalized, forcing regulators to propose restrictions before the data is ready.
A parallel issue affects the display rules. The government plans to rely on a “discrete choice experiment” to assess the impact of hiding vapes and pouches from public view, but this research is also still underway. The advocacy group We Vape argues that without completed studies, the consultation risks becoming a procedural formality rather than an evidence-driven decision-making process.
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Mark Oates, founder of We Vape, expressed concern over the government’s approach. “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,” he said. He warned that adult smokers who vape to quit should not pay for a policy the government has not finished measuring and that the group will be watching closely to see if this as yet unfinished research is used to inform decisions on regulation.
The government’s own impact assessments further expose inconsistencies in its planning. One assessment omits a Net Present Social Value calculation, a standard metric for evaluating whether a policy’s benefits outweigh its costs. Another estimates that the proposed restrictions could lead to over £330 million in lost revenue for the vaping industry but does not provide a comparable figure for potential public health improvements.
The documents acknowledge a lack of current evidence on how display restrictions might affect adult smokers’ ability to quit. Without this information, regulators cannot determine whether the rules could inadvertently push some users back to traditional smoking.
