What do New Zealand’s New Vaping Regulations Mean for You?

On 11th November, the New Zealand Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act 2020 will come into force after a lengthy wait. What does that mean for you? It means that New Zealand’s vaping industry is now fully government regulated, which might change things for you in a few subtle ways beginning in November when you shop for vape gear.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest legal developments for vaping in New Zealand, we encourage you to read the full description of the new regulations at the Ministry of Health website. On this page, though, we’ll provide a short overview of the regulations to help you get your bearings.

Why Did New Zealand Regulate the Vaping Industry?

New Zealand’s government felt that it was necessary to regulate the vaping industry for a number of reasons. Here are just a few of them.

• Restricting the ways in which vaping brands can market their products prevents the sort of marketing that characterized the JUUL launch in the United States.
• Setting a nationwide age restriction for buying vaping products helps to keep those products out of the hands of children.
• Setting firm rules about where people are allowed to vape minimizes the chance that children will be exposed to vaping and will want to try it.
• Setting restrictions on who may sell sweet e-liquids that may appeal to teens helps to ensure that teens won’t be exposed to those products.
• Regulating the vaping industry helps to ensure that vaping products are safe to use. The government now has a framework in place for recalling unsafe products if it ever proves necessary to do so.

What Is the Government’s Attitude Toward Vaping?

In short, the regulations make it clear that New Zealand’s government is broadly in favour of vaping as a less harmful alternative for adult smokers. The government agrees with the scientific consensus that vaping presents less of a risk to public health than smoking. The government also believes that a smoker who switches fully to vaping and discontinues all tobacco use has quit smoking. New Zealand’s vaping regulations, in fact, do not define vaping products as tobacco products legally. The law regulates them as entirely separate products.

New Zealand’s mindset towards vaping stands in stark contrast to the climate in some other nations such as the United States. In the U.S., the government has deemed vaping products to be tobacco products and regulates them according to exactly the same set of rules. The U.S. government does not consider a person who has switched to vaping as having quit smoking. Though some aspects of New Zealand’s vaping regulations are somewhat inconvenient for consumers and for vaping businesses, we can all take heart in the knowledge that the government’s attitude toward vaping is generally positive.

With those things in mind, let’s look at how the regulations will change things for you as a consumer.

The Regulations Will Change Where You Can and Can’t Vape

In general, New Zealand already forbids vaping in places where smoking isn’t allowed. However, the new regulations do name two specific situations in which vaping is expressly forbidden, perhaps because of the fear that it could appeal to teens.

• You may not vape in a car when a child is present.
• You may not vape on any school grounds or in early childhood centres.

The regulations do, however, include a provision that allows vaping inside vape shops. That provision was included with the rationale that some high-end vaping products aren’t easy for the uninitiated to set up and use. Therefore, it makes sense to allow vape shops to show people how to use those products and to allow for those products to be used in stores because it helps to facilitate the switch to vaping.

The Regulations Will Change How You Buy Vaping Products

If you currently buy e-liquids or vape pods at a traditional retailer like a local convenience store, you’d be wise to begin seeking out a good local or online vape shop. That’s because, as of 11th November, traditional retailers will not be allowed to sell vaping products in flavours other than tobacco, menthol and mint. Traditional retailers will also not be allowed to discuss the differences between products or to recommend specific products. They will only be allowed to discuss what they carry and what the prices of those products are.

The regulations define vape shops as retailers that earn the majority of their income from vaping products, and when New Zealand’s new vaping regulations become active in November, vape shops will be the only retailers who are allowed to sell vaping products in all flavours, to discuss the differences between products and to explain how those products are set up. While the fact that specialized vape shops will be the only retailers allowed to sell most vaping products will be inconvenient to vapers accustomed to buying e-liquids and pods from traditional retailers, it is the government’s hope that keeping most vaping products out of traditional retail establishments will minimize teens’ exposure to those products.

The Regulations Will Change How You Hear About Vaping Products

The final reason why New Zealand’s new regulations will change the vaping experience for you is because the regulations will ban the advertising of vaping products. When new vaping products come out, you will not see them on billboards, in magazines or in banner ads on New Zealand websites.

At this time, New Zealand’s vaping brands aren’t entirely certain how they’ll get the word out when they have new things to share with the vaping community. It seems very likely, though, that word of mouth will be one of the most prominent ways in which New Zealand’s vapers will find out about new products.

If you want to stay up to date on new releases, then, it’s a good idea to bookmark your favourite vape shops’ websites and visit them frequently to check for updates. You should also consider participating on vaping forums, as it’s very likely that the forums will always be full of people who are excited about discussing everything that’s new.