The Government is working on changes to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 (the Act) to make vaping products less appealing and less available to people under the age of 18 years.
These changes will be made using the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill (No 2), (the Bill).
The Bill is still going through the legislative process and may change. The date it will come into force is yet to be confirmed. You can read more about the Bill on the Parliament website.
While exact timing is to be determined, it is expected to come into force in November 2024. Changes in the Bill will come into force over time.
The main changes being made:
- specialist vape stores will need to be at least 100 metres from an Early Childcare Education Centres (ECEs)
- increasing penalties for breaking the law
- retail visibility – banning the display of vaping products and heated tobacco products
- banning disposable vapes.
The location changes and increased penalties will come into force immediately, however a ban on disposable vapes and retail visibility will come into force six months after the Bill becomes law. This will allow time for the industry to prepare for changes.
Location of specialist vape stores
The change will mean any new specialist vape retailer (SVR) stores will not be able to open within 100 metres of an ECEs.
This new restriction applies to new specialist stores. It does not apply to general retailers or existing specialist stores.
As soon as the Bill becomes law, new specialist vape store applications cannot be approved if they are within 100 metres of the boundary of a licenced ECE.
The rule that an SVR must be more than 300 metres from a school or marae will not change. You can read about our existing location requirements.
You can check the location of a proposed store in relation to schools, marae and ECEs on our website map tool. This tool is indicative, and the Ministry of Health will do a location check as part of the application process.
Increasing penalties for breaking the law
Fines for selling to minors and advertising are set to increase under the Act.
For example, the fine for selling vapes to a minor will increase from $10,000 to $100,000 for a business, and from $5,000 to $10,000 in other cases.
The infringement fine for selling to a minor, which can be given without prosecution, will increase from $500 to $2,000 for a retailer, manufacturer, importer or distributor and $1,000 in any other case.
The fine for publishing a prohibited advertisement for a vaping or heated tobacco product remains at $200,000 for a manufacturer, importer or distributor, and at $70,000 for large retailers. However, this fine will increase from $15,000 to $50,000 in any other case, such as smaller retailers.
Retail visibility – banning the display of vaping products
Vaping products will no longer be able to be on display in general retailers and must not be displayed where they can be seen from outside a specialist store. This includes online stores.
The Ministry of Health will be developing detailed sector guidance on this, and will share this with retailers in early 2025.
Banning disposable vapes
The Bill will also ban the import, manufacture, sale and supply of disposable vapes. A definition of disposable vapes will be included in the Bill, and guidance will be published on our website as soon as possible.
This ban will come into effect six months after the Bill becomes law.
Regulated Product Seller (RPS) Notifications
The information you need to include in RPS Notifications is changing. Currently, submitters only need to supply their business/legal entity name, and the company address. This will be updated to require you to also include the trading name and trading address of your stores.
This applies to all people who need to have an RPS, which includes general retailers, importers and manufacturers of vaping and notifiable products, as well as distributors of smoked tobacco products.
Everyone that has an existing RPS Notification will be asked to update their accounts in HARP with the new information. We will contact these people directly.
If you are required to have an RPS and have not submitted one in HARP, or it has expired and you have not renewed, this is an offence and you may be fined $500, or up to $5,000 if prosecuted.
