About the consultation
The UK Government consulted on a wide-ranging package of proposals covering the packaging, appearance and retail display of tobacco products, heated tobacco products, vapes and other nicotine products. The consultation sought views on measures including plain packaging requirements, health warnings, flavour descriptors, device design, retail display restrictions and exemptions for different retail settings.
The proposals aim to reduce the attractiveness of tobacco and nicotine products by limiting the use of packaging, branding, flavours and product design as marketing tools, and remove exemptions to ensure greater alignment in the display and promotion of these products.
See the consultation on the UK Government website
Our response
Our response, which you can download below, welcomed the overall direction of the proposals and highlighted four key themes:
- Reducing youth appeal: We supported measures to standardise packaging, restrict branding and imagery, limit promotional product design features, and remove flavour descriptors that may be particularly appealing to children and young people.
- Strengthening protections across all nicotine and tobacco products: We called for a consistent regulatory approach across tobacco, heated tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, ensuring that gaps or inconsistencies do not undermine efforts to reduce uptake among children and young people.
- Reducing product visibility and promotion: We supported restrictions on the retail display of tobacco, vape and nicotine products and associated devices, recognising the role that product visibility and promotion can play in shaping attitudes and behaviours among children and young people.
- Going further on flavours: While supporting the proposed restrictions on flavour names and descriptors, we encouraged the government to consider stronger action on flavours themselves, given the growing evidence that flavours play an important role in youth vaping uptake.
Throughout our response, we emphasised the importance of protecting children and young people from exposure to products and marketing practices that can normalise nicotine and tobacco use. Our recommendations drew on evidence from RCPCH's systematic review of vaping and health outcomes in children and young people, which highlighted growing concerns around youth vaping and reinforced the need for a precautionary approach to the regulation, marketing and presentation of vaping and nicotine products.