Information on requirements for manufacturers and importers of vaping products.
New rules for manufacturers and importers
The 2023 amendment to the vaping regulations introduced new rules for manufacturers and importers:
Manufacturers and importers, distributors and retailers of regulated products must keep sales records and provide annual reports and returns to the Vaping Regulatory Authority:
On this page:
Manufacturers and importers of notifiable products have certain requirements they need to follow in order to sell vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products in New Zealand:
- You need to notify the Vaping Regulatory Authority about the vaping, herbal smoking, and smokeless tobacco products you intend to sell in New Zealand and also to renew any notifications that have expired. Learn more about the product notification process.
- You are obliged to report any adverse reactions to the products you manufacture or import as soon as you become aware of them. You can report this through the HARP portal under Complaints, Report a side effect to vaping.
- Manufacturers and importers (and specialist vape retailers) must keep sales records and provide annual reports and returns to the Vaping Regulatory Authority. The reports and returns will be due with the Authority by 31 January each year for the previous calendar year.
Product notifications
All manufacturers and importers (notifiers) of vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products (notifiable products) must notify the Vaping Regulatory Authority about the products they intend to sell in New Zealand. There is a $50+GST per product fee (renewed annually) for the processing of the product notification.
Note that:
- manufacturers and importers must submit a product notification for each product they intend to sell or supply, including parts or components if they are intended to be sold separately.
- replacement parts for a device can be notified as a device notification.
- different container sizes or nicotine strengths of the same brand or product can be notified under a single notification and will therefore attract only one notification fee.
Notifiers can notify their notifiable products through the Health Advisory and Regulatory Platform (HARP). All products must comply with the relevant product safety requirements outlined in the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021 before they can be notified. Each manufacturer or importer of a product must complete their own notification for products they sell or supply, even if they have already been notified by someone else.
Notifications must be renewed every 12 months or they will expire. Manufacturers and importers must also complete a new notification, and cancel their existing notification, for a product if it undergoes a significant change after it has been notified.
The Director-General of Health may suspend or cancel product notifications, although manufacturers and importers have the right to appeal to an independent Appeals Committee about a proposed suspension or cancellation.
The Director-General may also ensure products do not pose an unacceptable risk of harm by:
- declaring maximum limits for substances within a product
- declaring substances that are prohibited for use in a product
- requiring information about the safety of a product
- issuing public warnings about the safety of a product
- issuing a recall notice for a product.
Please note: Notifiers of notifiable products are responsible for withdrawing their notifiable products if they do not meet new packaging and product safety requirements under the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021. The Vaping Regulatory Authority will not cancel these in the HARP system for you.
Notifiable Products
Manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers of notifiable products (vaping, smokeless tobacco and herbal smoking products) are required to comply with certain rules. Non-compliance with the rules set out in legislation is committing an offence and risks prosecution and/or a fine.
- Removeable batteries
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The 2023 amendment to vaping regulations introduced a new requirement that all vaping devices must have a removeable battery.
A removeable battery means a battery that can be inspected, removed and replaced, without damaging the battery or the device, by a person using no more than a screwdriver.
From 21 October 2023, manufacturers and importers must notify vaping products that have a removable battery.
From 21 December 2023, manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell single-use vaping products that have a removable battery.
From 21 March 2024, NZ manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell reusable vaping products that have a removable battery.
- Batch numbers
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Batch numbers were an existing requirement for vaping devices, however, there was previously an exemption for single-use devices, allowing them to display the serial or batch number of the packaging instead. The 2023 amendment to vaping regulations has removed this exemption and extended the batch number requirement to cover all devices, including for single-use devices in instances where the device itself is the container, to ensure products can be traced in the event of safety concerns.
From 21 September 2023, manufacturers and importers must only notify vaping products with compliant batch numbers.
From 21 December 2023, manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell vaping products with compliant batch numbers.
- Nicotine concentration
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The 2023 amendment to the vaping regulations introduced new rules for the maximum allowable nicotine concentration in vaping substances.
The concentration of nicotine in reusable vaping products containing nicotine only in salt form must not exceed 28.5mg/mL.
For all other vaping products, the concentration of nicotine must not exceed 20mg/mL.
Additionally, the new regulations clarified that the nicotine concentration level in a single-use vaping product must be displayed on a product label in mg/mL. Displaying only as a percentage is not permitted.
From 21 October 2023, manufacturers and importers of notifiable products must only notify vaping products that meet the nicotine requirements for single-use and reusable products.
From 21 December 2023, manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell single-use vaping products that meet the nicotine requirements for single-use products.
From 21 March 2024, manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell reusable vaping products that meet the nicotine requirements for reusable products.
- Prohibition on cartoons and toys on packaging
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The 2023 amendment to vaping regulations introduced a prohibition on cartoons and toys on vaping and smokeless tobacco products. Those products must not have any feature that depicts cartoons or toys.
From 21 March 2024, manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must not sell vaping products or smokeless tobacco products that have any feature that depicts cartoons or toys.
The prohibition also applies to the packaging of a vaping or smokeless tobacco product, and any inserts into that packaging.
- Child safety mechanism
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The 2023 amendment to the vaping regulations introduced a new requirement that all vaping devices must have a child safety mechanism to prevent the device being activated or accidentally operated by a child.
A child safety mechanism is defined, in relation to a vaping device, as a mechanism or combination of mechanisms requiring at least two simultaneous, or five sequential operations to activate the device, and automatically turn off (deactivate) the device within 10 minutes of the last time it was used.
From 21 October 2023, manufacturers and importers must only notify vaping products that have a child safety mechanism.
From 21 December 2023, manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell single-use vaping products that have a child safety mechanism.
From 21 March 2024, NZ manufacturers and importers, distributors, and retailers must only sell reusable vaping products that have a child safety mechanism.
- Products need to be notified for sale in New Zealand
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All vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products (notifiable products) must be notified before they can be sold in New Zealand. This means that manufacturers and importers need to let the Vaping Regulatory Authority know about the notifiable products they intend to sell in New Zealand via the product notification process.
For retailers this means that you are prohibited from selling notifiable products that:
- do not have a current notification, unless it has been less than 3 months since the notification expired and there are no current safety concerns with the product
- do not comply with any product safety requirements set in regulations
- have been subject to a product recall.
A searchable database is available so retailers and the public can find out which products are currently notified.
- Notifiable Products - products that are no longer notified
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Notifiable products must not be sold in New Zealand if their notification has been withdrawn, suspended or cancelled. If a notification expires, the product notifier must stop selling it immediately, but provided there are no safety concerns with the product, retailers can continue to sell-through their existing stock for up to three months.
The current status of all products can be found on the notified products register, which is available on the Notified Products Database.
Test reports
Section 69A of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 (the Act) requires notifiable products (vaping, smokeless tobacco or herbal smoking products) specified in regulations to be tested annually. No notifiable products are currently required to undergo annual testing.
Under section 69B of the Act, the Director-General may, by written notice, require a manufacturer or an importer of a notifiable product to conduct tests of the product in addition to any annual tests required under section 69A.
Section 100(1)(a)(ii) of the Act requires manufacturers and importers of notifiable products to prepare a report of all tests that they have carried out in each calendar year. These annual reports must be provided to the Vaping Regulatory Authority via the HARP portal by 31 January of the following year.
Contact [email protected] if you have any queries.
Obligation to report adverse reactions
Manufacturers and importers of vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products (notifiable products) must report any adverse reactions from those products to the Vaping Regulatory Authority as soon as they become aware of them via the HARP portal.