Information for manufacturers and importers (notifiers)

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On this page:

• Product notifications
• Notifiable Products – products that are no longer notified
• Test reports
• Obligation to report adverse reactions

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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 – products that are no longer notified

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 of the product for up to three months.  

The current status of all products can be found on the notified products register, which is available on the HARP 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.