Vape licensing in the UK: retailer registers, future licences and what wholesalers can do now

Short answer: vape licensing in the UK doesn't exist yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland run free retailer registers instead, and both cover more products from 29 October 2026. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have licensing powers in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 but no start date. Wholesale-only businesses are outside both registers.

From our side

Every order in the trade portal we run for a UK vape wholesaler hangs off the customer's account record, so that's where register and licence details belong. Scotland already has a retailer register, Northern Ireland's covers vapes from 29 October, and England and Wales have the powers but no start date. Adding the fields while there's little to check costs far less than chasing hundreds of customers later.

— Avi Singh, Founder

Vape licensing by nation: the status on 6 October 2026

We checked each nation's scheme against the legislation and the official register pages on 6 October 2026. "Retail" matters in every row: none of these schemes is aimed at a business that only sells to other businesses.

For the wider picture, including the age-of-sale and promotion rules that start on the same day, see our Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 summary.

Scotland: the Register of Tobacco and Vaping Product Retailers

Until 29 October 2026, Scotland is the only nation where a vape shop has to be on a register before it trades. The Scottish Government's page puts the test simply: you must join if you sell tobacco or nicotine vapour products to the public, and you do not need to join if you only sell to other businesses.

What changes on 29 October 2026. The Scottish commencement regulations (SSI 2026/210) bring section 69 and Schedule 9 of the Act into force on that date. Herbal smoking product businesses and nicotine product businesses, such as shops selling nicotine pouches, become "registrable businesses" alongside tobacco and vaping businesses. The offence of trading while unregistered only reaches the two new groups on 29 April 2027, which gives them six months to register. A vape shop that is already registered stays registered; if it also sells pouches, it should ask the register team whether its entry needs updating.

How joining works. Registration is free. A business signs in through ScotAccount, adds its name, contact and company details, verifies its email and then adds each premises on a "Manage Premises" page. A paper form is also available. Changes such as a new business name, a new address or stopping sales have to be updated on the register.

The certificate and the ID code. Joining creates a registration certificate listing every registered premises, and it updates itself when entries change. Trading Standards officers can ask to see it on a visit, on screen or printed. The Scottish Government's age verification guidance also tells retailers to write their retail register 10-digit ID code on their age verification policy record, which makes that code the most useful single number for a supplier to hold.

Penalties for not joining, as listed on mygov.scot: a fine of up to £20,000, a £200 on-the-spot fine, a ban of up to 24 months from selling tobacco and vapour products, and seizure of stock.

Anyone can search the register online, so a wholesaler can confirm a Scottish shop's entry before opening its account.

Northern Ireland: the extended Tobacco Register NI

Northern Ireland has run a tobacco retailer register since 6 April 2016 under the Tobacco Retailers Act (Northern Ireland) 2014. The Department of Health's commencement order (NISR 2026/152) brings section 87 and Schedule 10 of the 2026 Act into operation on 29 October 2026, so the register also covers vaping product and nicotine product businesses.

Schedule 10 sets the detail:

• A "vaping product business" is one involving the sale of vaping products by retail. A wholesale-only distributor doesn't meet that definition.
• Applications must state, for each premises, which kinds of registrable business (tobacco, vaping, nicotine) will be carried on there. An existing tobacco retailer adding vapes applies to add that kind of business to its premises.
• A registered person must notify the council when it stops running a vaping or nicotine business at a listed address.
• Trading from premises not listed for that kind of business is an offence, as is trading while unregistered.

The register is free, is administered from Belfast City Council, and is enforced by local councils. Its website says applicants are told within 28 days whether they have been registered and that a business must register at each address it trades from. It also lists a fixed penalty of up to £500, or prosecution with a fine of up to £5,000, for running a tobacco business unregistered; the same offence now extends to vaping and nicotine businesses. When we checked on 6 October 2026, the site still described a tobacco-only register, so retailers unsure how to add vapes should call the register team.

The four-nation consultation document of July 2026 describes the extension as an interim measure before Northern Ireland's Department of Health consults on a licensing scheme.

England and Wales: licensing powers with no start date

What the Act allows. Section 16 makes it an offence, once commenced, for an individual in England to sell, expose for sale or possess for sale any tobacco, herbal smoking, vaping or nicotine product without a personal licence. It also stops anyone using premises for storing these products for sale, exposing them for sale or supplying them to retail customers without a premises licence. "Sell" means sell by retail (section 50) and "supply" includes despatch, so online retailers' dispatch premises are within the wording. Section 19 mirrors this for Wales, with county and county borough councils as the licensing authorities. Northern Ireland's version is section 88.

What regulations will decide. Schedule 1 leaves the substance to regulations. They may set a fee capped at an amount in the regulations, require premises inspections before a licence is granted, attach conditions, limit the number of licensed premises in an area, cover duration and renewal, and publish licence information. Breaching a licence condition can bring a financial penalty of up to £2,500 from the local weights and measures authority, in practice Trading Standards (section 18); trading without a licence is a criminal offence with a fine (section 17).

A point for wholesalers. The premises-licence wording covers storage "for the purpose of their sale (by the person or another person)". Read on its own, that could reach a warehouse holding stock that shops will later sell by retail. Section 16(3) lets the Secretary of State create exceptions, and nothing has been published about wholesale. Treat it as an open question for the consultation, not as a rule either way.

Timing. In July 2026 the four governments said they intend to legislate on a licensing scheme and other measures in stages during the course of this UK Parliament (by 2029). On 20 July 2026 DHSC answered a written parliamentary question saying it intends to consult on a retail licensing scheme in 2027. We found no Welsh Government timetable. Wales never brought its own 2017 register into force, and section 22 of the Act repeals those provisions once the Welsh Ministers commence it.

What wholesalers should do now: legal requirements vs good practice

Keep two lists apart. One holds what the law requires of you today; the other is preparation that costs little and pays off when licensing arrives.

Required by law now

• If you sell to the public anywhere in Scotland (counter, web shop, events), your business must be on the Scottish register; from 29 April 2027 that also applies if you sell nicotine pouches there.
• If you sell vapes or nicotine products by retail in Northern Ireland, register each premises and each kind of business from 29 October 2026.
• Wholesale-only sales: no register entry and no licence needed anywhere in the UK today.

Good practice (not a legal duty)

• Ask Scottish and Northern Ireland shop customers for their register details at account opening and check them against the public register.
• Re-check when a customer changes trading name or address, or adds a new shop.
• Note customers who also sell nicotine pouches in Scotland, since their registration offence applies from 29 April 2027.
• Keep a dated record of every check, including who did it.
• Leave room for an England or Wales licence number and expiry date, so you can start collecting them on the day a scheme opens.

What a trade-account record should hold

These fields sit naturally next to the duty and stamp records you already keep: see our guides to Vaping Products Duty, the duty stamp goods-in checklist and the unstamped stock run-down calculator.

How we help

We build trade ordering portals for UK vape wholesalers and set up the customer-account side of this guide: register and licence fields per premises, a required check step before a new shop's first order, reminders when a check is out of date, and a dated log of who checked what. Our portal already runs sales and warehousing day to day for a UK vape wholesaler; these account checks are built on top as part of a project. To see how it would fit your 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 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 50, 88, Schedule 1 and Schedule 10 (checked 6 October 2026)
• Scottish Government, Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, SSI 2026/210 (made 24 June 2026)
• Department of Health NI, Tobacco and Vapes (2026 Act) (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026, SR 2026/152 (made 28 July 2026)
• mygov.scot, Register of Tobacco and Vaping Product Retailers, including the join, update and certificate pages (last updated 31 August 2026)
• Scottish Government, Tobacco or vaping product businesses: age verification policies, guidance for retailers (published 30 July 2026)
• Tobacco Register NI, About the register and How to register (checked 6 October 2026)
• DHSC and devolved governments, Tobacco and vapes: packaging, appearance and display (consultation document, 10 July 2026; "Next steps" section)
• UK Parliament, Written question UIN 18891: Electronic Cigarettes and Tobacco: Retail Trade (answered by DHSC, 20 July 2026)
• Welsh Government, Legislative Consent Memorandum: Tobacco and Vapes Bill (paragraph 50, on the 2017 register provisions)
• Department of Health NI, Minister Nesbitt welcomes 'landmark' Tobacco and Vapes Act (29 April 2026)

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This guide explains published legislation and official guidance for wholesalers and the retailers they supply. It isn't legal advice: for a specific question, check the register pages above, your local Trading Standards or council, or a regulatory solicitor.