New Zealand's Updated Vaping Regulations: What You Need to Know

The vaping industry in New Zealand has seen significant growth over the past few years. As with any rapidly evolving industry, regulations are bound to change to ensure public safety and maintain industry standards. Recently, the New Zealand government announced a series of modifications to the existing vaping regulations. Here's a breakdown of how these changes impact manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.

Packaging requirements

1. Flavour Description:
Starting on 21 October 2023, manufacturers and importers are required to notify only those vaping products that use flavour descriptions permitted by the regulations. By 21 March 2024, all entities involved in vaping product sales must adhere to these flavour naming conventions. The variant name on a vaping product and its packaging should only describe the actual flavour using two flavour names. This is listed in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.

2. Imagery restrictions:
From 21 March 2024 onwards, vaping or smokeless tobacco products cannot have cartoon or toys packaging. This move is likely to prevent the appeal of such products to younger audiences.

Product Safety Requirements

1. Single-use vaping products:
The products will now have a safety mechanism to prevent accidental activation. It is also mandatory that they have removable batteries and labels that indicate information such as batch numbers and nicotine levels in mg/mL to prevent accidental activation. These requirements will take effect on 21 December 2023. Furthermore, these products must not contain more than 20mg/mL of nicotine.

2. Reusable vaping products:
Similarly to single-use products, reusable vaping products must also have child safety mechanisms and removable batteries. However, if they contain nicotine only in salt form, the maximum nicotine concentration is 28.5mg/mL. The updated requirements will take effect on 21 March 2024.

Specialist Vape Retailers – Approval Requirements
As a prospective new specialty vape retailer, you must ensure that your premises are at least 300 meters away from a registered school or a marae listed on the Ministry of Education's Internet site. The Vaping Regulatory Authority will not approve applications for vaping premises within 300m of this area from 21 September 2023.

In summary,
Despite the need for some adjustments from businesses and consumers, the updated vaping regulations are designed to ensure the safety and well-being of the nation's citizens.

Checking for updates from the government and seeking clarification from relevant sources are crucial for those in the vaping industry to remain compliant.