Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 summary: what changes for vape wholesalers and their retailers

Short answer: the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 became law on 29 April 2026. From 29 October 2026 it's an offence to sell any vape (nicotine-free included) to under-18s, give vapes away to promote them or sell them at a substantial discount. Wholesale sales are outside the age rule; trade discounts survive. Advertising ends 1 June 2027. Licensing has no date.

This summary is written for UK vape wholesalers and distributors, and for the shops they supply. Every date and penalty below was checked on 5 October 2026 against the Act on legislation.gov.uk and DHSC's guidance, which was published on 11 August 2026. Where something isn't decided yet, we say so rather than guess.

The Act's dates in one table

The 29 October date comes from section 175: Parts 1 to 4 start at the end of six months beginning with the day the Act was passed. DHSC's guidance confirms it.

From 29 October 2026: the five new offences

1. Selling to under-18s. Retailers, including online retailers, must not sell any vaping or nicotine product to anyone under 18. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland this replaces the old rule that only covered nicotine vapes. Scotland already covered non-nicotine vapes and now adds nicotine products such as pouches.
2. Proxy purchasing. An adult commits an offence by buying, or trying to buy, these products for someone under 18. Staff should refuse a sale when they suspect it.
3. Free distribution. Giving a vaping or nicotine product, or a coupon, to a member of the public is an offence where the purpose or effect is to promote the product. That covers free samples, a free pod as a gift, and branded non-vape items such as a vape-branded charger.
4. Substantial discounts. Selling a product or coupon at a substantial discount is an offence on the same purpose-or-effect test. DHSC gives selling e-liquid or devices for a nominal 10p as a likely example.
5. Vending machines. Whoever manages the premises commits an offence if a machine there sells or dispenses these products to customers. A machine used as secure storage that only staff dispense from is still allowed.

In scope: devices, e-liquid, coils, pods and other components, plus nicotine pouches, strips and pearls (synthetic nicotine included). Out of scope: batteries, chargers and leads, medical devices and medicinal products.

Defences. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, regulations will set out age-check steps that give retailers a defence; DHSC says these will come before Parliament in due course. Until then, a retailer has a defence if it can prove it took all reasonable steps. In Scotland, retailers selling vapes must already run a written age verification policy, and from 29 October that extends to nicotine products.

Penalties for selling to under-18s:

The free distribution and discount offences carry the same fixed penalties, but are more serious in court: in England and Wales up to 2 years in prison and an unlimited fine on indictment. Vending machine breaches are fined up to £2,500 (£5,000 in Northern Ireland).

Free samples and discounts: what wholesalers can still do

DHSC's guidance is explicit that the new offences do not affect normal discounting. Unsold stock can be sold at a reduced price as part of normal business, and bulk and trade discounts may still apply. So a volume tier on your trade price list, a settlement discount or a clearance price on discontinued lines is ordinary trading.

Three points matter more for a wholesaler than for a shop:

• "Causes or permits" is in the offence. Section 15 catches anyone who gives away or discounts a product or causes or permits that to happen. If you fund, supply or design a retailer's "free with purchase" or 10p deal, treat it as your risk as well as theirs.
• Coupons count, physical or electronic. A code you hand retailers to pass on to shoppers for a free or near-free product is a coupon under the Act.
• Purpose or effect is the test, not the percentage. DHSC says whether a discount is substantial depends on the product and the promotion. There is no safe-harbour figure, so keep a written reason for unusual prices.

There is one exception: a stop smoking service can still give vapes or coupons away under an arrangement made by a public authority, such as a council-funded quit scheme.

Wholesalers vs retailers: who has to do what

DHSC states that the age of sale applies to retail sales only, not to business-to-business (wholesale) sales or sales to an organisation. Its own example: someone under 18 who works in a shop can buy stock from a wholesaler for that business. A retailer still can't sell to that person for their own use.

On the last row: section 16 requires a personal licence to sell and a premises licence to store products for sale or supply them "to retail customers". Whether any wholesale activity gets caught depends on regulations and exceptions that haven't been written, so watch the consultation.

Advertising and sponsorship from 1 June 2027

The Act bans publishing, designing, printing or distributing an advertisement that promotes a vaping or nicotine product, including paid web ads and sponsored social posts, and bans making a contribution under a sponsorship agreement that promotes one. DHSC's media blog (1 June 2026) says the government intends this to start across the UK on 1 June 2027 and will make the commencement regulations and publish guidance before then. On 5 October 2026 the advertising sections were still shown as prospective on legislation.gov.uk.

The trade exception is narrower than many expect. Section 125(1)(a) gives a defence for a communication made in the course of a business in the vaping or nicotine trade, for that trade, and directed solely at relevant persons. Section 125(2) defines them as people who:

• decide what the business buys for resale,
• hold a management position at least as senior as that buyer, or
• are responsible for running the business, including directors.

In practice, a price-list email to buyers and owners fits. A promotional email blast to every contact at every shop, including till staff, or a public Instagram account aimed at the trade, is harder to defend. Two other defences exist: replies to an individual's request for information, and publications printed outside the UK whose principal market isn't the UK. DHSC says retail websites can still give factual, non-promotional information about the products they sell.

Today, before the ban, CAP code rule 22.12 already stops nicotine e-cigarette ads in most online and print media, except media targeted exclusively at the trade.

Sponsorship deals: section 131 has been in force since 29 June 2026 for agreements entered into from that date, and it applies to anything done on or after a date the Secretary of State sets in regulations. If you sign event or team sponsorship now, check whether it runs past June 2027.

Licensing, registers, packaging and display: what is still undecided

Retail licensing. The Act contains licensing schemes for England (sections 16 to 18 and Schedule 1), Wales (sections 19 to 22) and Northern Ireland (section 88). None starts until ministers make regulations, and in England the Secretary of State must consult first. DHSC's July 2026 consultation document says the government is reviewing call-for-evidence responses on licensing and a product registration scheme, and "will consult at a later date". It also says the four governments intend to legislate in stages during this Parliament (by 2029). There's no published start date, fee or fixed penalty amount, so don't plan around one.

Registers that change on 29 October 2026:

• Scotland already has a register of tobacco and vaping product retailers. From 29 October 2026 it extends to nicotine products and herbal smoking products, and those businesses have until 29 April 2027 before the registration offence applies to them.
• Northern Ireland extends its tobacco retailers register to retailers of vaping and nicotine products from 29 October 2026, as an interim step before consulting on licensing.

Packaging, appearance and display. The consultation ran from 10 July to 2 October 2026 and has closed. Its proposals for vapes and nicotine products:

• plain white packaging with limited branding and standard safety information
• flavour names cut to simple descriptions such as "apple", with no concept or sensory names and nothing referring to sweets, desserts or alcohol
• devices in white, black or grey, with no images, no cosmetic lights and screens that show only safety and status information
• shop displays restricted as tobacco displays are, price displays restricted too, and separate price lists for vapes and for tobacco
• displays still allowed inside trade-only premises; no exemption for vape shops

It proposes at least 12 months' notice for packaging and device changes and at least 6 months for display changes, counted from when the final details are published. None of this is law yet. The Act's powers to make these rules sit in sections 13, 14, 64 and 83 (displays in each nation) and sections 94 to 96 (packaging, features, contents and flavour).

A wholesaler's systems checklist for 29 October 2026 and after

Pair this with your duty work: the Vaping Products Duty guide covers pricing and records, the duty stamp goods-in checklist covers stock checks, and the unstamped stock calculator shows which lines won't clear by 31 March 2027. Note that a clearance price for trade customers is normal discounting; a giveaway to shoppers is not.

How we help

We build trade ordering portals for UK vape wholesalers, and we set up the controls in the checklist above: trade-account checks at sign-up, approval rules on price overrides, role fields on customer contacts, and licence or register numbers stored against each customer. Our trade portal already runs sales and warehousing day to day for a UK vape wholesaler; the compliance controls here are built on top as part of a project. If you want to see how this would look on your own customer list, book a 20-minute walkthrough or read about our vape wholesale software.

Sources

• legislation.gov.uk, Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (c. 18), sections 15, 16, 125, 131, 175 and 176 (up to date with changes known to be in force on or before 5 October 2026)
• DHSC, Selling vaping and nicotine products (published 11 August 2026, no later updates)
• DHSC, Tobacco and vaping product vending machine ban (published 11 August 2026)
• DHSC, Tobacco, vaping and nicotine products: fixed penalty notices (published 11 August 2026)
• DHSC, Tobacco and Vapes Bill becomes law (29 April 2026)
• DHSC, Ending the advertising and sponsorship of vaping and nicotine products from 1 June 2027 (1 June 2026)
• DHSC, Ministers launch crackdown on vapes targeting kids (10 July 2026)
• DHSC and devolved governments, Tobacco and vapes: packaging, appearance and display (consultation 10 July to 2 October 2026; page updated 7 September 2026)
• Scottish Government, Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 (made 24 June 2026)
• Department of Health NI, Tobacco and Vapes (2026 Act) (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 (made 28 July 2026)
• CAP, Electronic cigarettes: media prohibitions (AdviceOnline, 4 March 2024)

Last reviewed 5 October 2026. This guide summarises the Act and published government guidance for wholesalers and retailers. It isn't legal advice. For a specific promotion, contract or licensing question, read the guidance in full or ask a regulatory solicitor or your local Trading Standards.