Have your say on vaping

You can have your say on the Government's latest proposals on vaping by making a submission to on the Government's consultation document 'Proposals for the Smoked Tobacco Regulatory Regime'. Submissions are due by Wednesday 15 March.

This document is seeking feedback on how the Government will implement the recently passed Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act, which came into force on 1 January 2023. This act introduces major changes to protect Kiwis from the harms of tobacco. It bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, significantly reduces the number of retailers selling tobacco and over time will significantly reduce the nicotine content in tobacco products.

The document is also seeking feedback on new rules around vaping. In section five, the Government is proposing:

• Restricting the flavour names of vaping products to minimise their appeal to youth.
• Extending safety requirements for disposable vaping products
• Restricting the areas where Specialist Vape Retailers are located

The Foundation supports these proposals but wants to see greater restrictions to protect young New Zealanders from the harms of vaping. The main points of our submission are that:

• Flavour names need to be restricted to more generic names and this rule needs to apply to both current and new vape products
• Further design restrictions, like plain packaging, are needed on vape products to reduce their appeal to young people
• Further restrictions around advertising vapes are needed, particularly on social media
• All disposal vape products should be banned
• The maximum concentration of nicotine salts in all vape products should be reduced to 20mg/ml in line with the EU (this is based on a pack-a-day smoker requiring 20mg/ml nicotine content to quit).
• We want a significant reduction in the numbers of current Specialist Vape Retailers (SVRs), in line with the planned reduction in tobacco retailers
• All SVRS must have a staff member trained in smoking cessation on duty at all times
• We want changes to the rules around SVRs so it is not possible for 'store within a store' set ups to be approved as SVRs.

You can read the Foundation's full submission on this issue here.

You can make a submission here.

You are welcome to use or adapt text from the Foundation's submission, in your own submission.