Under Pressure in the UK, the Vaping Industry Voluntarily Introduces a Code of Conduct

Before the UK government potentially takes strict measures against the vaping market, the industry has already introduced a "Code of Conduct" supported by major participants.

This code sets a series of standards and behaviors aimed at voluntarily regulating the vaping industry, including the marketing methods of products as well as their names and flavors.

The code is overseen by the independent UK vaping trade association (IBVTA), which is the main independent trade association for the UK vaping industry, in addition to existing regulatory measures and any future measures that the government may introduce.

This code aims to directly address recent concerns about the increasing access and experimentation of vaping products among young people, which have reportedly been largely associated with the increased availability of disposable vaping products. The code stipulates that disposable vaping products should not disproportionately appeal to children and explicitly states that all parties involved in the sale of vaping products must ensure compliance with their recycling obligations and are responsible for encouraging vaping users to responsibly recycle their products.

This code of conduct has been signed by various parties in the vaping supply chain, including leading manufacturers, producers, distributors, and retailers of disposable products in the UK market. The companies signing this code account for over 50% of disposable vaping products in the UK market, including ELFBAR and Lost Mary brand owner IMiracle, which is the most widely used disposable vaping product in the UK. The IBVTA has stated that it will advance plans for more signatories in the coming weeks.

The code of conduct stipulates the following:

• Only supply products that comply with UK regulations and have been reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), if such reporting is legally required.
• Do not offer products branded or named after well-known food, beverage, candy, cartoon, or entertainment brands or products (e.g., Skittle, Prime, Fantasi, Coca-Cola, Jolly Ranger).
• Do not offer products whose flavor names are similar to well-known food, beverage, candy, cartoon, or entertainment brands or products (e.g., gummy bear, Haribo, Oreo, Red Bull).
• Only offer products whose flavor names accurately reflect the flavor characteristics, rather than abstract concepts that may overly appeal to children or names that may not convey flavor characteristics to adult customers (e.g., 'dragon blood', 'unicorn shake', 'rainbow blast').
• Only offer products that do not prominently feature cartoon characters or fictional characters from entertainment works primarily aimed at teenagers on the product or packaging.
• Only offer products that do not resemble toys, beverage containers, water bottles, or other novelty shapes primarily aimed at teenagers.
• Introduce due diligence measures in the supply chain aimed at reducing the supply of products to retailers without sales age restriction experience or strict age verification protocols. These may include communicating regulatory requirements to wholesale customers and providing best practice guidelines on how to implement the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchase) Regulations 2015 due diligence.
• Comply with our own waste and recycling regulatory obligations within our businesses and communicate retailer obligations to our retail customers.

Marcus Saxton, chairman of the IBVTA, commented: "I am pleased that the code of conduct launched today will cover over 50% of disposable vaping products in the UK market, and as more companies join, this percentage will increase in the coming weeks and months. This shows the vaping industry’s willingness and ability to address recent concerns, including the issue of access to vaping products for those under 18 and the increased demand for recycling used vaping products.

“However, the industry cannot operate in isolation. We look forward to working with the government to establish a flexible and appropriate regulatory framework. The government also needs to take the issue of the growing illegal vaping market seriously and take action to address it, as these products certainly will not comply with the measures we announced today. However, we believe that this code will play an important role in providing further protection and safety measures for consumers, those under 18, and the environment.”