Under-18 sales ban on nicotine products and all vapes
What was announced
Chief Medical Officer responds to restrictions on the sale and promotion of vapes and nicotine products
Key points, in the publisher's words
- Aiming to addict children and young people under 18 to nicotine of any kind or encouraging them to vape sets them up for lifelong health harms, and is completely unacceptable. New regulations coming in today should make it harder for people and companies to try to make a profit from trying to do this.
- Selling nicotine vapes to children is already illegal. The new regulations extend this to other nicotine products, including nicotine pouches and to non-nicotine vapes. They also make it illegal for adults to buy products with the aim of giving them to children.
- Some companies and individuals have been using loopholes in the law to provide free distribution, for example at festivals and events, to try to addict a new generation. This will no longer be legal.
Who and where
UK bodies of power
- Department of Health and Social Care (UK government department) · more news
Where this sits in the 10 levels of power
Topics, as GOV.UK files them: Public health.
Receipt
- Original: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/under-18-sales-ban-on-nicotine-products-and-all-vapes
- Published 2026-10-29 12:36:57 UTC
- Read by this site 2026-10-29 12:45:12 UTC from GOV.UK
- Saved copy: receipt 4358, with its SHA-256 fingerprint
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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