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Timeline of requirements
Amendments made to the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 means that requirements come into effect at different times. The following document provides a timeline of when some requirements come into effect.
Notification requirements for general retailers of vape products – RPS notification
General retailers (eg, supermarkets, dairies and petrol stations) of vaping and other notifiable products must notify the Ministry of Health that they sell notifiable products. This is done in HARP and is known as a Regulated Product Seller (RPS) notification.
The RPS notification details the stores you sell from and their locations. Each company that sells regulated products only needs to submit one RPS Notification, even if they have multiple stores operating under that same business.
Notifications last for 12 months, so you must re-notify annually to ensure your information is kept up to date. There is a fee of $80 plus GST, plus any card processing fees, for each notification.
The Ministry may publish a list of businesses selling regulated products on the Ministry of Health website.
Find out more about the application process on our HARP user guide page.
Prohibitions on free, discounted and bundled distribution or supply
The rules around offering free or discounted vaping products are similar to those for tobacco products.
Vaping products must not be distributed or supplied for free or at a reduced charge, except as part of a publicly funded smoking cessation programme.
Vaping products must not be packaged together with other types of products or distributed/supplied with other types of products at a single price (ie, as a bundle). They can be purchased at the same time as other products (as part of the same transaction) and then bagged or shipped together provided they are not sold as a package or sold together at a single price.
From 17 June 2025 specialist vape retailers will no longer be able to offer someone buying a vaping product a gift, cash rebate, or the right to participate in a contest, lottery or game, to encourage them to purchase, or reward them for purchasing.
Retailers cannot be offered a gift, cash rebate, or the right to participate in a contest, lottery or game by anyone in return for the:
- purchase or sale of vaping products
- advertising of vaping products in the retailer’s premises or on their website
- location of vaping products in the retailer’s premises or on their website.
This includes manufacturers, importers and distributors who sell vaping products to retailers.
Prohibition on display of certain trading names for general retailers
A general retailer must not display its name or trading name on the outside of its place of business (whether that is a physical store or a website) if the name:
- signifies that vaping products can be purchased
- is a trademark of a vaping product
- is the name of a manufacturer or importer of a vaping product.
This only applies to general retailers, not specialist vape retailers.
Compliance with rules set out for 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 an offence and risks prosecution and/or a fine.
Products need to be notified for sale in New Zealand
All vaping, herbal smoking and smokeless tobacco products (notifiable products) must be notified before they can be sold in retail stores in New Zealand. This means that manufacturers and importers need to tell the Ministry of Health 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.
Retailers do not need to notify the products they sell if they are already notified (eg, by the manufacturer or importer). However, they can only sell products that have been notified by the importer, manufacturer or distributor. You can find out what products are currently notified on the Notified Products Register.
Rules for 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 for up to three months after the notification has expired.
The current status of all products can be found on the Notified Products Register.
Contents of vaping substances
Manufacturers, importers and distributors have a responsibility to ensure that the contents of vaping substances (liquids/juices) are safe and meet legal requirements.
The Ministry of Health tests a selection of vaping products available on the New Zealand market to check they are compliant with New Zealand legislation, and follows-up with notifiers where needed.
Products that do not meet legal requirements must be removed from the market. We remind all notifiers that they are obligated to ensure their products meet all the legislative requirements before bringing them onto the market.
Product safety requirements for vaping products
A quick reference table of relevant requirements for notifications of vaping products is until 17 June 2025.
| Requirement | All vaping devices |
|---|---|
| Removable batteries | All vaping products sold in New Zealand must contain a removable battery. |
| Child-safety mechanisms | All vaping products sold in New Zealand must have a child safety mechanism. |
| Flavours | All vaping products sold in New Zealand must comply with variant name restrictions. |
| Nicotine limits | Vaping substances must not exceed a nicotine limit of 20 mg/ml. Reusable vaping devices – A vaping substance that contains nicotine only in salt form and is intended for use in a reusable vaping device has a maximum nicotine limit of 28.5 mg/ml. |
| Labelling requirements | Single use products – Must comply with labelling requirements under clauses 1, 1A, and 24A, Schedule 5 of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021. Reusable products – Must comply with labelling requirements under clause 1, Schedule 5 of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021. |
Removable batteries
All vaping devices must have a removable battery.
A removable 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.
Child-safety mechanisms
A child safety mechanism means 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.
Batch numbers
All vaping devices must have a serial or batch number. This requirement applies to all devices, including single-use devices in instances where the device itself is the container, to ensure products can be traced in the event of safety concerns.
Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers can only notify and sell vaping products if they have a compliant batch number.
Nicotine concentration
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 regulations require that the nicotine concentration level on a vaping product must be displayed on a product label in mg/mL. Displaying only as a percentage is not permitted.
Vaping substances that do not meet the nicotine concentration limits cannot be notified or sold.
Prohibition on cartoons and toys on packaging
Cartoons and toys cannot be present on vaping and smokeless tobacco products. Those products must not have any feature that depicts cartoons or toys.
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 applies to the packaging of a vaping or smokeless tobacco product, and any inserts inside that packaging.
Test report requirements
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.
The Act allows the Director-General, by written notice to 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 of the Act.
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 Ministry of Health by 31 January of the following year.
Oral nicotine products
There are many different oral nicotine products. How they are dealt with under the law depends on whether the nicotine component is tobacco-based or synthetic-based, and the intended use.
Prohibition on sale of products for chewing (or other oral use)
Regulated products must not be advertised, labelled or otherwise described as suitable for chewing or other similar oral use.
Any products where nicotine is absorbed primarily through the mouth by chewing or similar oral use must not be imported for sale, sold, packaged or distributed in New Zealand. This prohibition does not apply to products that have been given consent or provisional consent as a medicine under the Medicines Act 1981.
What is the legal status of oral tobacco nicotine products in NZ?
To find out more please see our Overview of oral nicotine products.
Contact details
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