Prohibition of the sale and supply of single-use vapes Full Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment

Regulatory and EU Alignment Impacts

Intra-UK Trade

Is this measure likely to impact on intra-UK trade?

145. No, it is not anticipated this measure will impact on intra-UK trade as all nations have plans to impose a similar sale and supply ban. The term ‘UK internal market’ refers to the set of trading relationships within and across the four UK nations (i.e. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). As the UK government and devolved governments have agreed to a common commencement date of April 2025, it is unlikely that there will be an impact on the UK’s internal market.

146. In the event of there being any misalignment in the introduction of legislation, the four UK nations have agreed to work together through the Resources and Waste Common Framework process to minimise or mitigate any impact on the UK internal market. This could include joint consideration of an alternative coming into force date or taking steps to agree an exclusion to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (IMA) through the agreed Common Frameworks process, to ensure the effect of Scottish legislation is not undermined by the IMA.

International Trade

Is this measure likely to impact on international trade and investment?

147. Yes, it is anticipated this measure will impact on international trade.

148. The measure will reduce the number of single-use vaping products imported into Scotland. There is no evidence to suggest there is domestic manufacturing of single-use vapes and there is a large domestic market for single-use vapes, so it can be inferred that the vast majority of single-use vapes are imported products. International trade will therefore be negatively impacted as there will no longer be a market for single-use vapes in Scotland. Based on prior evidence, it can be reasonably assumed that the majority of these imports are coming from China.^[148]

149. Table 5 below demonstrates the current volume of imports and exports currently. Research by Eunomia^[149] used harmonised system (HS) codes to identify the import and export of vapes in the UK trade database. The three main categories for nicotine containing vape products in the UK trade data are included and categories that contain tobacco or reconstituted tobacco products are excluded. Through this, it was identified that the UK was a net importer of vape products in 2022. We have updated this with the latest figures from 2023^[150] as shown in the Table 5. Though this does not separate out single-use vape products, it was identified that the majority of imports were from China (83%), with smaller numbers of imports from the United States (6%), Hong Kong (5%) and South Korea (4%).

150. Given the volumes exported, Scotland may have some domestic production of vaping products. We have found no evidence of domestic production of single use products (i.e. single-use vapes) and pre-filled pods in Scotland, which was also confirmed through stakeholder engagement. Any exports are therefore likely to be attributed to domestic manufacture of e-liquid rather than single-use products.

151. Table 5 also suggests that it is likely that overseas producers have a comparative advantage in the manufacturing of alternatives to single-use vapes (i.e. reusable vapes and other refill components), implying that the UK is still likely to be reliant on imports of alternative vaping items in the event of a ban on single-use vapes. Through our stakeholder engagement, there was no knowledge of manufacture of any single-use or reusable vape devices in Scotland.

152. Scotland has designed the measures to ensure that they are consistent with our international obligations, including under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. There is international precedent for a ban on sale and supply of single-use vapes consistent with international agreements , with Australia already having banned single-use vapes, and New Zealand have announced an intention to introduce a ban on single-use vapes.

EU Alignment

Is this measure likely to impact on the Scottish Government’s policy to maintain alignment with the EU?

153. No, it is not expected that this measure will impact on the Scottish Government’s policy to maintain aligned with the EU. The EU is not proposing its own EU-wide ban on the sale of single-use vapes, but several member nations have and/or are considering similar measures. Furthermore, such a policy aligns with many of the EU’s circular economy and environmental objectives.