Brexit: Impact on vape regulations
Updated: 14th June 2021
The UK is no longer an EU member state. The following information is provided to help importers, manufacturers and retailers understand the impact of Brexit on UK e-cigarette and e-liquid (vape) regulations.
Key Changes
- Responsible Person: Producers are required to have UK-based Responsible Person (RP). An RP based outside the UK, in an EU market, will no longer be acceptable.
- Notification: Submission of a notification through a new UK notification portal is required for any business selling in the UK. Businesses selling in EU and UK require notification via the new UK portal as well as EU-CEG portal.
- Packaging: Product labels for the UK market require a UK address. Multi-market packs will require UK and an address in a EU member state.
How to prepare
If you currently sell into UK and EU, we recommend the following to avoid disruption to sales:
- UK entity and an EU entity: Establish an entity in a EU member state (not UK) if you do not have one. Likewise, if you have no UK entity then set one up.
- Responsible Person: Ensure you have a Responsible Person located in an EU member state and UK.
- Notification: Submit notifications for all future UK products via the UK notification portal. Notifications prior to December 2020 have been downloaded to UK portal – you do not have to do anything.
- Packaging: Add both a UK and EU address on packaging.
Northern Ireland
The deal the UK has with the EU means that submission of notifications for Northern Ireland (NI) are still made using the EU-CEG. So if you only want to notify Northern Ireland then submission via the EU-CEG is enough. You do not use the UK portal for Northern Ireland submission. You are only required to submit via the new UK portal if you want to notify in England, Scotland and Wales (‘GB’).