New rules for vapes and ZYN pouches in the UK
Key Points
- UK-wide consultation launched Friday (10 July) on vape packaging and displays
- Vapes would get plain white packaging and white, black or grey devices
- Flavour names limited to simple descriptions such as "Apple"
- Around one million 11-17 year olds tried vaping in 2025, per ASH
- Vaping Products Duty takes effect 1 October 2026
The UK government launched a consultation on Friday (10 July) proposing plain white packaging for vapes, restrictions on flavour names, and a ban on vape displays in shops, airports and wholesalers.
The proposals stem from the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April, and form part of a UK-wide push to cut youth vaping. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) reported that around one million 11-17 year olds in Great Britain tried vaping in 2025.
For shoppers, the changes would mean vapes sold in plain white packaging with restrictions on text colour, imagery and branding, and standardised safety information.
Flavour names would be limited to simple, recognisable descriptions such as “Apple”, with names referencing confectionery, sweets, desserts and alcohol banned outright, along with concept and sensory names.
The devices themselves would be restricted to white, black or grey, with no images, limited branding, no cosmetic lights, and screens permitted only to display safety information such as battery level. Vapes would also be removed from shop displays in the same way as tobacco products.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care James Murray said the evidence was clear that too many young people were experimenting with vapes, attracted by flavours, bright colours and marketing displays.
“Vapes are less harmful than cigarettes and can play an important role in helping adult smokers to quit, but they should never be designed or marketed in ways that tempt children,” Murray said.
Tobacco products also targeted
The consultation also proposes extending plain packaging requirements, currently applied to cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco since 2017, to all tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco, shisha, snuff, chewing tobacco, heated tobacco and cigarette papers.
Quit-support message inserts would be added inside tobacco products, and heated tobacco devices would be restricted to the same drab brown colour as tobacco packaging.
Travellers would see tobacco products removed from display in duty-free shops and airports, closing an existing exemption for bulk tobacconists.
Nicotine pouches, which have seen growing use among young people, are covered by several of the proposed measures. Medicinally licensed nicotine products are exempt.
Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of ASH, said protecting children from harmful vape marketing was the right thing to do, but warned of a balance to strike.
“The task now is to thread the needle of making vaping less appealing to children without making it less effective for adults who want to quit smoking. Get that balance wrong, and we risk slowing progress against smoking, the leading cause of preventable death,” Cheeseman said.
The consultation runs for 12 weeks and is UK-wide, with no immediate changes to the law at this stage. Regulations will be developed after analysis of responses.
The proposals follow the ban on single-use vapes on 1 June 2025, and come ahead of a Vaping Products Duty taking effect on 1 October 2026, which will add to the cost of vaping products, bans on vape vending machine sales and free distribution from 29 October 2026, and an end to vape advertising and sponsorship from 1 June 2027.
