Tag: UKVIA

Video: VApril and Debating the ‘State of Vapor’

Industry experts debated the challenges and opportunities facing the vapor business to mark the start of VApril 2021, the annual awareness campaign launched four years ago by the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) to help educate smokers on how to successfully quit conventional cigarettes by transitioning to vaping.
Participants in the debate included John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA; Mark Pawsey, MP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping; Patricia Kovacevic, global legal and regulatory strategist at Andina Gold Corp.; and Clive Bates, director of Counterfactual Consulting and former director of Action on Smoking and Health.
The discussion centered around the repercussions of the pandemic on the vaping industry and vapers; how the sector moves on from the events of the last 12 months; how regulatory review this year and COP9 can be a defining moment and accelerate the shift toward a vaping-driven smoke-free society; addressing the misperceptions of vaping, which are deterring adult smokers from making the switch to less harmful alternatives; and the opportunity for the VApril campaign to take the mantle and in the future make smoking in Britain a thing of the past.
The 2021 VApril month-long initiative will for the second year running be largely digitally based due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Vape businesses up and down the country, together with vaping trade associations around the world, are getting behind the special month.
Smokers can visit a special campaign VApril website, which provides a special guide, the Switch on to Vaping Plan, to help them make a successful switch to vape products and in doing so break their smoking habits. They can also have their questions answered by an online expert panel.
April 9, 2021
U.K. Vaping Industry Eyes Regulatory Changes
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has unveiled a landmark package of recommendations to government, aimed at maximizing the public health benefits of vaping and bolstering ambitions for a “Smokefree 2030.” The document, A Blueprint for Better Regulation, urges government to use its post-Brexit independence to become a world leader in harm reduction.
The U.K.’s Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR) are currently being reviewed, with a crucial consultation due to close on March 19. The resulting decisions made by government are set to shape public health and smoking cessation policy for years to come.
Former Health Minister Norman Lamb, also a former chair of Parliament’s science and technology committee, praised the recommendations.

The TRPR review offers a great opportunity to improve public health across the U.K. by tackling misinformation about vaping.
Former Health Minister Norman Lamb
“I welcome the launch of the UKVIA’s Blueprint document responding to the government’s consultation—the TRPR review offers a great opportunity to improve public health across the U.K. by tackling misinformation about vaping.
“It also presents an opportunity for the industry to build on the evidence-based approach, which the government has consistently taken on vaping products, and to support smokers who want to switch to a less harmful product.”
“The current public consultation on TRPR and SPoT is an ideal opportunity to highlight how less harmful products have improved public health,” said former Labour MP Kevin Barron, who is also a former chair of Parliament’s health and social care select committee.
“The current lowest recorded smoking rates have been achieved by numerous avenues including switching from tobacco to less harmful products. The opportunity to bring in legislation to further encourage the move to products that can satisfy an addiction using products 95 percent less harmful than burning tobacco should not be missed.”
The opportunity to bring in legislation to further encourage the move to products that can satisfy an addiction using products 95 percent less harmful than burning tobacco should not be missed.
Former Labour MP Kevin Barron
Developed by the sector’s leading businesses, the recommendations aim to help adult smokers quit, while increasing vaping’s economic contribution and even addressing environmental concerns. The UKVIA Blueprint, among other things, calls for:
The use of government-approved, expert health claims on products, to encourage smokers to switch
Greater opportunities to engage with smokers, as current restrictions also deter those who may otherwise make the switch
The extension of certain regulations to cover additional vaping products, such as non-nicotine e-liquids, thereby supporting a highly responsible industry
Product size changes that reduce prevalence of single-use plastic
John Dunne
“The recommendations published today are the result of intense collaboration among vaping’s leading experts and entrepreneurs,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA. “This is truly a landmark moment in the history of our industry, which has grown to be a genuine market disrupter, and a route out of smoking for people all over the world. With the adoption of these recommendations, the U.K. could take its place as a progressive, global leader on public health.
“The government has claimed that post-Brexit regulatory independence will mean a new, and better, way of doing things. Now is the time for this pledge to become a reality. By embracing this evidence-based approach, we can empower consumers, revitalize businesses and put the ‘Smokefree 2030’ ambition within our grasp.”
March 15, 2021
U.S. Vapor Mail Ban Reverberates Internationally

Photo courtesy of UKVIA
The impact of the pending U.S. restrictions on shipping vapor products is being felt internationally. The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), for example, has expressed “deep concern” about the measures, saying that U.K. business are affected.
In late December, Congress voted into law a $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill that contains a provision banning the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from delivering vapor products.
The USPS was already prohibited from delivering cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to consumers under the PACT Act. The law passed in December extends the act’s original definition of “cigarette” to include electronic nicotine-delivery systems.
Tobacco and vapor companies may use private services to ship their products to consumers, but the PACT Act requires them to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the tobacco tax administrators of the states into which a shipment is made. Delivery sellers are further required to verify the age and identity of the customer at purchase and maintain records of delivery sales for a period of four years after the date of sale, creating substantial administrative burdens.
Critically for the vapor industry, the most popular carriers, Federal Express and United Parcel Service, have recently announced that they would cease all deliveries of vapor products.
“We have had orders not being collected, and our own shops not receiving stock in a reliable manner, all of which impacts customers,” said Joe Bevan, director of UKVIA member Celtic Vapours. “As the majority of our business is currently online, we need efficient delivery of stock to provide the quickest service.”
“At a time when many vapers are unfortunately unable to visit their local vape store, this is making it even more difficult for them to receive the consumable products they rely upon,” said Richard Russell, operations manager Vape Distribution. “Certain carriers perhaps don’t realize that this action could lead vapers to revert back to smoking.”
“The vaping supply chain is a global one, bringing together resources and expertise from around the world,” said John Dunne, director general at UKVIA. “It is bitterly disappointing to see these American restrictions having a negative impact in the U.K., but the nature of the supply chain makes it inevitable. In the EU too we are hearing of vaping businesses being turned away from major carriers.
“The potential impact on public health is grave, as so many people are relying on shipped goods as a lifeline during the pandemic. Without proper access to harm-reduction products we know people can revert to smoking cigarettes, today in the U.S. but perhaps tomorrow in the U.K. With businesses already struggling through lockdown, and our health services under great strain, supply chain issues really are the last thing we need.
“I call on the distribution industry, many of whom have been partners of the vaping industry for many years, to do all they can to support their U.K. customers, and to avoid the blanket implementation of U.S. restrictions worldwide.
“Furthermore, I call on the U.K. government, to ensure that carriers in this country are free to continue to deliver vaping products to retailers and direct to consumers, and to resist any urge to follow the U.S. down this regressive route.”
March 8, 2021
WHO Advises Countries to Ban Open System Devices

Photo: Vaperesso
Vapor advocates have expressed concern about recent recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) study group on Tobacco Product Regulations to prohibit electronic nicotine and non-nicotine delivery systems where the user can control device features and liquid ingredients. The WHO has also called for a ban on vaping systems that have a higher “abuse liability” than conventional cigarettes, for example by controlling the emission rate or flux of nicotine.
Clive Bates
Clive Bates, a tobacco harm expert and former director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), called the advice irresponsible and bizarre. “If governments take it seriously, they will be protecting the cigarette trade, encouraging smoking and adding to a huge toll of cancer, heart and lung disease,” he said.
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) said the WHO is out of touch with growing evidence on the public health potential of vaping. “Certain WHO positions are now so out of date, and so thoroughly refuted by the experts, that they may as well be saying the earth is flat,” said John Dunne, director general at the UKVIA, in a statement. “They deviate dramatically from leading experts, including Public Health England and Action on Smoking and Health.”
Dunne cited the WHO’s assertion that there is “little evidence” for vaping’s role in helping people quit smoking. As early as 2019 clinical trials were finding vaping to be almost twice as effective as nicotine replacement therapy, he noted.
This month, Public Health England (PHE) found in its Vaping Evidence Review 2021 that smoking quit rates involving a vaping product were higher than with any other method in every single English region.
John Dunne
“For the WHO to hold such contrary views is either bad science or bad faith. Both risk it becoming an enemy of harm-reduction,” said Dunne.
“Vaping’s success as an industry, and its potential for public health improvements, is built on empowering personal choice,” he added. “Different systems, styles and flavors give consumers the options they need to leave combustible cigarettes behind. I would urge the WHO to engage with vapers, to hear their stories and discover the life-changing decisions they’ve made in their lives. Prohibition is simply not the answer.”
The WHO is scheduled to hold a summit on vaping, during the Conference of Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP9) in The Hague in November 2021. Following its exit from the European Union, the U.K. will send a national delegation the meeting. The UKVIA was among expert guests invited by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping to advise on the COP9 delegation’s approach.
“The UK has a genuine opportunity to promote harm-reduction as a valid, progressive strategy for public health on the world stage,” said Dunne. “We must not allow misinformation to undermine this potential, irrespective of the source.”
March 2, 2021
Vapor Advocates Welcome PHE Evidence Review

Photo: Chris Dorney – Dreamstime.com
Public Health England’s (PHE) latest evidence review reinforces vaping’s role in smoking cessation as well as the low rate of use among underage never-smokers.
As the U.K. prepares to reevaluate its Tobacco & Related Products Regulations following Brexit, the report shows great successes in harm reduction and smoking cessation linked to vaping products.
In every region of the country, quit rates among adult smokers were found to be higher with the use of vaping than with other products, ranging from 49 percent success in the South West to 78 percent in Yorkshire and the Humber.
PHE states that the use of nicotine-replacement therapies (NRT) among long-term former smokers is declining while the use of vaping products is increasing. Citing data from Action on Smoking and Health, the review highlights that the most common reasons given for vaping were to quit combustible cigarettes (29.7 percent), stay off cigarettes after quitting (19.4 percent) and to reduce tobacco consumption (11.2 percent).
Flavors remain an important driver for those using vaping products, with 31.6 percent of vapers reporting fruit flavors to be their preference.
Uptake among “never-smoker” youth remains very low, between 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent, with PHE confirming that this rate has not increased in recent years.
John Dunne
“This a defining moment for the vaping sector and truly shows the considerable progress it has made against a backdrop of significant misinformation around the industry, with Public Health England once again stating that perceptions of the harm caused by vaping compared with smoking are increasingly out of line with the evidence,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).
“This latest data, which the review is based upon, provides incontrovertible evidence as to the importance of vaping to successful smoking cessation and the nation’s public health.”
Dunne also pointed to challenges that need addressing by the industry and policy makers.
“Despite the many positives in this report, a great deal remains to be done,” he said. “Action on Smoking and Health, for example, has found that just 11 percent of local authority stop-smoking services are offering vaping products to some or all of those trying to quit smoking. With the clear efficacy of vaping evidenced in this report, we must ensure this figure grows.
“As an industry, we also share PHE’s views on stronger enforcement in preventing underage sales. In our response to the government’s TRPR consultation, which we will be publishing shortly, we call for fully funded regional and national test purchasing schemes to better understand compliance and to help educate retailers on their legal requirements. The UKVIA has already published the first ever Preventing Underage Sales Guide for vape shops and online retailers, which has been supported by Trading Standards.
“The review’s finding that more than 50 percent of people believe vaping to be as harmful or more harmful than the use of combustible cigarettes means we need to keep educating smokers about the fact that vaping is a fraction of the harm of smoking, has literally changed the lives of former smokers for the better and is acknowledged as one of the best ways to quit conventional cigarettes.”
February 23, 2021
Vapor Advocates Attend U.K. Parliament Group Meeting

Mark Pawsey MP and Chairman of the APPG for Vaping
Prominent tobacco harm reduction advocates Gerry Stimson (Knowledge-Action-Change), Clive Bates (The Counterfactual), John Dunne (U.K. Vaping Industry Association) and Daniel Pryor (Adam Smith Institute) attended a virtual meeting organized by the U.K. All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Vaping, a collection of MPs and Peers focused on e-cigarettes.
The tobacco harm-reduction advocates’ input will be used to advise the U.K. delegation to the Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which is scheduled to take place in the Netherlands this November.
Chaired by Mark Pawsey, the APPG is keen for the U.K. to defend its vaping position internationally, and to promote the successes of British vaping. The expert witnesses highlighted the considerable public health benefits of harm reduction tools, and the potential benefit they could provide around the world.
Tuesday’s evidence session came as the U.K. government continues its own review of tobacco regulations, meaning a busy time for advocates hoping to protect the public potential of vaping.
“I was happy to accept the invitation from the APPG, because the UKVIA believe we have an incredible opportunity to spread the word—that innovative, appropriately-regulated vaping industries save lives,” said Dunne in a statement. “Post-Brexit Britain is newly independent in forums like COP9, and it means we can drive this positive message home like never before.”
February 10, 2021
New EU Restrictions Worry Harm Reduction Advocates
Credit: Elsa Donald
Vapor advocates have expressed concern about reports that the European Commission is potentially seeking to ban flavored e-liquids.
According to the U.K. Vape Industry Association (UKVIA), leaked EU plans for a “Tobacco Free Generation” would increase controls on e-cigarettes, despite their proven value in smoking cessation efforts.
This latest EU plan could include the following proposals:
Extend taxation to “novel tobacco products,” including e-cigarettes
Extend the coverage of smoking bans, both indoor and outdoor, to vaping
A full ban on flavored products
The enforcement on plain packaging for vaping products
John Dunne
“We at the UKVIA are seriously concerned by reports that the European Commission is considering such regressive action, which will likely reduce the positive impact that vaping has on people’s lives,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA.
“While we completely support efforts to combat the scourge of cancer in our society, the creation of artificial barriers to harm-reduction products is clearly counterproductive. Adult smokers must be empowered to make positive change, rather than being discouraged.
“Cancer Research UK, along with the Royal College of GPs, have confirmed vaping’s significant harm-reduction compared to cigarettes, as well as its efficacy in smoking cessation. The EU’s plans are out of step with this latest evidence.
“It is vital that the U.K. now take advantage of the legislative and regulatory independence afforded by Brexit, to safeguard this country’s proportionate, evidence-based approach to vaping.”
The document was leaked ahead of the announcement today of the EU’s “Beating Cancer Plan,” which among other things calls for reducing tobacco use to less than 5 percent of the EU population by 2040.
February 3, 2021
UKVIA Wants ‘Essential’ Label for U.K. Vape Shops

Photo: VPZ
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) is calling on the government to reconsider classifying vape shops as essential retail, as parts of the U.K. enter restrictions under tier 4 and with potential lockdowns following in the new year.
John Dunne
“It’s not just about providing a lifeline to vape businesses but also to vapers and smokers for whom vaping represents a life changing decision, especially at this time of year,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA, in a statement.
“As smokers make New Year resolutions, we should remember that earlier this year Public Health England acknowledged the contribution played by vaping in helping smokers quit and the Royal College of Physicians has found that e-cigarettes are effective in helping people to stop smoking. Recent research has again highlighted that vape products are much more effective than NRTs [nicotine-replacement therapies] in helping smokers give up.”
Dunne said that vape retail stores are well equipped to be COVID compliant. “Our stores do not deal with the high volumes of traffic like other outlets and are easily able to control the number of customers in a store at any one time,” he said.
“We want to make sure that smokers who might be aiming to quit in the New Year, and those who already vape, can continue to gain access to vape devices, e-liquids, and specialist advice that our members can offer.”
December 28, 2020
UKVIA Highlights Achievements in Review

John Dunne
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has published its latest annual review highlighting the progression and achievements of the association and the industry during the past 12 months. It also looks at the key priorities for the new year, particularly the opportunity to shape the Tobacco & Related Products Regulations following Britain’s exit from the EU.
The review covers the efforts by the UKVIA to address the misinformation that continues to mislead consumers about vaping, the success of VApril 2020 despite the coronavirus, the 76 percent increase year-on-year in membership, the work that the association is doing with its international counterparts to protect the interests of the sector and progress being by the different committees, including policy and regulatory, youth access prevention, standards and marketing
In his foreword, UKVIA Director General John Dunne applauds members and the wider industry for rising to the challenge of the pandemic. “The vaping industry is disruptive at its core, and it has an enormous capacity for adapting to that disruption,” he said in a statement. “The industry can be proud of what it’s achieved during the last year despite the disruption and challenges it has had to face up to.”
December 18, 2020
Parliament Member Backs Special Status Vape Shops

Mark Pawsey MP (Photo: UKVIA)
U.K. Member of Parliament Mark Pawsey, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping, has called for vape stores to remain open during the Covid-19 lockdown to safeguard public health.
“Given its vital role in smoking cessation, even when compared to NRT [nicotine replacement therapy], the case for vaping’s essential status is growing ever stronger,” said Pawsey.
“Vape retailers do not just provide the tools for harm-reduction, but also the expert advice and support which empowers consumers to make a positive change. Now, more than ever, we should be safeguarding the country’s public health; vaping is an important part of that. Let’s support this sector, and all those who rely on it, by keeping vape stores open.”
Earlier this week, the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) urged ministers to consider the essential status for vape stores.
Doug Mutter
“I have seen first-hand how U.K. vaping has risen to every challenge this year, with new safety measures, business practices and routines,” said John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA in a statement. “The passion for helping people in this industry is unrelenting, no smoker looking to quit is on their own. However, with government help we can do even more, because for many people the support of a face-to-face experience is vital.
“If the government does not grant essential status to vaping the impact on sales from stores could be as much as 45 percent-50 percent down,” said Doug Mutter, manufacturing and compliance director at VPZ.
November 5, 2020