The ACS has raised its concerns about proposals from the Scottish government to strengthen the rules relating to vaping products advertising and promotion.

The Scottish government is currently consulting on new regulations, including the restrictions of in-store displays, in order to make sure they are only used as an aid to stop smoking.

The consultation proposals would have a direct impact on convenience retailers by introducing restrictions on:

• In-store promotional displays and through distributing leaflets and flyers
• Advertising on billboards, advertising hoardings and placing adverts on moving video apparatus
• Distributing free or cut-price samples
• Sponsoring an activity, event or person

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In its submission, ACS highlights the lack of clarity in the proposals and urges the Scottish government to provide clearer definitions of in-store promotional displays, leaflets, flyers and moving video apparatuses, if they are to proceed with new regulations.

ACS chief executive, James Lowman, said: “We do not support proposals to ban in-store displays or use of leaflets and flyers that promote e-cigarettes. These types of interventions have a disproportionate impact on local shops that have limited space to display products meaning they would incur significant financial cost to refit stores.

“Banning in-store promotions and other advertising mechanisms would also reduce access to vaping products, which are a growing category for retailers and are widely considered to be an important smoking cessation tool. The Scottish government should instead focusing resource on enforcement activity to remove illegal e-cigarette products from the market.”

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