Imperial Tobacco backs local shops ahead of new vape regulation

Independent retailers are to be hit with new vape laws ‘imminently’, following calls from the government to crackdown on youth vaping.

Better Retailing speaks to Imperial Tobacco’s head of corporate and legal affairs in UK and Ireland, Lindsay Mennell Keating to find out how the supplier has been working with government to educate them on the impact of potential proposals on local shops, and discuss the ways it believes the category should be regulated.

Why is new regulation needed?

We are now waiting to hear from government as what it plans to do. There’s been a lot of speculation. It’s expected that the draft regulations will come quite quickly after the consultation reports have been published.

The government has already said it wants to bring forward the regulations as soon as possible so we are expecting them quite quickly, which is why it’s great that we are sitting down with you, to make sure that retailers are prepared.

We’ve been dealing with government advocating what our position is for a long time. We’ve been calling for more stringent vape regulation for a good number of years as it’s been seven years since we last had any. We are pleased that they’ve finally recognised the need for regulations, to help catch up with the market.

We’ve submitted our consultation response and I think broadly speaking we are supportive of some of the things that government wants to do.

What is Imperial’s stance on a generational smoking ban?

When it comes to the generational smoking ban, we are totally against it. Whilst we agree with them on their ambition to move to a smoke free future, we’ve got a difference of opinion on how to achieve that. We believe that a generational smoking ban will increase illicit trade which is already a problem for retailers, and likely fuel organised crime off the back of that and make it more difficult for retailers to determine who they can legally sell tobacco products to.

We’re having direct conversations with government, and we are talking to MPs to make them aware of illicit trade that is already a problem in their constituencies. We have our suspect it, report it website (https://suspect-it-report-it.co.uk/), which we encourage retailers to use if they suspect suspicious activity in their area. We then pass that information on to trading standards, so that it can be dealt with accordingly.

We are also highlighting the loss of revenue for the average retailer as a result of illicit trade. Retailers are already under a lot of pressure with the cost of living crisis and high energy bills, and the proposals that government has put on the table are only going to make matters worse and are likely to take away revenue from legitimate retailers.

What proposals do Imperial believe will help crackdown on youth vaping?

There are a number of ways we believe the government can reduce youth vaping, which we agree definitely needs to be tackled. We support a prohibition on cartoon characters, such as animals or any imagery that specifically or deliberately appeals to young people. There’s also a case to make as well around whether food confectionery or soft drinks should also be on packaging. We would like to have a conversation with government to understand where it’s thinking is regarding this.

However, we don’t support plain packaging. We also don’t think there should be a standardization of the device itself. We would like to see the continuation of colours being allowed on packaging, along with brand imagery.

We are not in favour of a flavours ban and we’d encourage the government to think really carefully about that because we know that flavours play a really important part in helping adult smokers that make the transition into the vaping category. Although we recognise that we do need a review of flavour naming conventions. We don’t want to see flavours like gummy bear, unicorn candy or candy floss, for example, as we don’t believe there is a place for those types of products on the market.

In other countries there have been calls for a ban on certain types of flavour ingredients and, once again, we’d ask the government to think quite carefully about that, for the reasons I’ve just described. The majority of blu vape flavours are based on either tobacco or menthol or fruit.

We wouldn’t support a complete ban on disposable vape products as these products represent over 80% of the category. There are a couple of things government needs to consider if they were to ban disposables. A huge proportion of adult consumers that vape these products might buy from an illicit seller and then we’ve got an enforcement issue. Also, vaping is a category which is already well established, and if you remove disposables, what does that mean for retailers? That’s going to have a huge impact on retail businesses. If these products were removed from the market, it also begs the question, what does it mean for smokers?

What needs to be down to reduce the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes?

We’ve seen the government come out and announce more funding for trading standards, which of course we welcome but, ultimately it’s only a drop in the ocean. We are encouraging the government to invest more, and to support trading standards with information about how they can determine whether a product is legitimate or not. There needs to be penalties and we support the introduction of fixed penalty notices, but the value has to be high enough to dissuade the retailer from continuing to participate in illegal activity. We’d like to see that money paid ring fenced to fund future enforcement activity, and support traders.

We believe that a small excise duty could also help raise funds for trading standards, but this would have to be proportionate, and volume based. There has been a lot of speculation in national media in recent weeks about a potential tax, and we wouldn’t support these proposals. Crucially, however, the value of any tax would have to be lower than the rate of tobacco to ensure that the category continues to offer an attractive, affordable alternative for adult smokers who are looking to move to something less harmful.

What can retailers do while they wait for a government announcement?

We want to start the conversation and we want to help them navigate their way through whatever those regulatory changes might look like. We are having conversations with retailers at a local level and we are also taking MPs out to meet retailers to hear firsthand how potential proposals might impact them, and their livelihoods.

We also want to work with retailers to ensure they understand what the changes mean for them in their business, and what they need to do to prepare. In regard to the generational smoking ban, for now, it’s business as usual as that wouldn’t come into force until 2027. But in terms of now, I’d recommend store owners to refresh their memory on age of sale regulations.

I’d urge them to have a conversation with their Imperial rep, and come back to us and tell us what we need to do to support them, because we are here for them.

If they have any concerns, we’d also encourage them to write to their MP, and we have a template that they can use to help make that possible.

How is Imperial working to ensure its products are sustainable?

We are constantly looking at new ways to innovate our products to ensure that they are as environmentally friendly as possible. We offer a take back scheme, which is applicable to all vape products, not just disposables, and we also encourage retailers and consumers to dispose of disposables responsibly. We do have some announcements to come which focuses on the future of new products, and how we will be addressing those concerns around sustainability.  

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