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

Consumer Assessment

Explain here whether your proposals will have an impact on consumers ensuring you provide evidence to back up any statements you make.

• Does the policy affect the quality, availability or price of any goods or services in a market?

210. The policy will remove the availability of single-use vapes from the market in their entirety. There may be indirect impacts on the price or quality of reusable alternatives and the vape market in general as a result of the ban.

• Does the policy affect the essential services market, such as energy or water?

211. No

• Does the policy involve storage or increased use of consumer data?

212. No

• Does the policy increase opportunities for unscrupulous suppliers to target consumers?

213. There may be the risk of the growth of an illicit market for single-use vapes. The illegal vape market already poses concern with issues such as banned ingredients, oversized tank sizes and exceeding legal nicotine strengths. It has been suggested that the illegal vape market could be comparable in size to the legal vape market.^[151]

214. Local authority officers (anticipated to be Trading Standards Officers) will be granted enforcement powers in order to enforce the Scottish regulations, which will mitigate against the risk associated with an illicit market for single-use vapes.

215. Does the policy impact the information available to consumers on either goods or services, or their rights in relation to these?

216. No

• Does the policy affect routes for consumers to seek advice or raise complaints on consumer issues?

217. No