Let’s try and keep track of the damage the TPD is causing to the vaping industry in Europe.
What is the Tobacco Products Directive?
The TPD is an EU directive that has been passed into UK (EU) law. It took effect on 20th May 2016, although there is a transitional period of 12 months (see ‘key dates’ below).
Realistically, the vaping industry couldn’t avoid regulation forever and nor should it. Consumers should be protected from bad suppliers and bad products. However, the TPD is an horrendous piece of legislation that goes way beyond consumer protection and makes selling ecigs harder than selling cigarettes. Most of its new rules are pointless at best and it is still unclear how some will be defined and enforced.
The TPD’s biggest effect is likely to be to decrease the number of people quitting smoking, despite all of the credible evidence points to vaping being around 95% safer.
Key points of the TPD
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The maximum e liquid bottle size is 10ml.
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The maximum amount of nicotine in any liquid is 2%/20mg.
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Every single variant of e liquid and device capable of vapourising e liquid must be tested and the MHRA must be notified of each product and its test results six months before it can be sold.
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The maximum e liquid capacity of tanks/clearomisers is 2ml.
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Tanks/clearomisers must be ‘leakproof at the point of refilling’.
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The advertising of any and all vaping products is banned. This includes physical advertising and electronic communications, such as emails and social media platforms.
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Cross-border EU sales can only be conducted if a retailer registers with both their home country and the country they export to.
Key Dates
20th May 2016
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All advertising is now illegal.
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Sales to other EU countries are prohibited without necessary registrations.
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Non-compliant stock can still be manufactured, bought and sold.
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Most retailers will still be selling non-compliant products as usual, so consumers will be largely unaffected. However, some small manufacturers will close down as they realise that TPD compliance is not viable.
20th November 2016
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Retailers have six months to clear their shelves of non-compliant products.
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New non-compliant stock cannot be manufactured, purchased or sold.
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Over the next six months almost all small manufacturers will close down. Retailers will start selling a much smaller range of products.
20th May 2017
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It is now illegal to sell any non-compliant product. Only products tested and MHRA notified six months earlier can be sold.
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At this point the market will look very different. There will be a lot less vendors and a lot less choice available. We will probably see a few cases brought about by Trading Standards against vendors who seek to exploit ‘loopholes’ and ‘grey areas’ in the TPD.
Effects on each product type
E Liquid
E liquid will only be available in 10ml bottles, at a maximum strength of 20mg (realistically, manufacturers aren’t likely to produce liquids over 18mg, to allow some margin for error). E liquid with no nicotine (0mg) does not need to be tested and is unaffected by the TPD.
E liquid bottles must have a childproof cap – which all responsible manufacturers already use anyway.
Even though the MHRA’s notification costs are only likely to be a couple of hundred pounds per flavour, per strength, the costs of testing could reach several thousand pounds for each. This means that a small manufacturer with, say, twenty flavours in four strengths, could face compliance costs of around a quarter of a million pounds.
Therefore, the number of manufacturers, and in turn the variety of e liquids on the market will be reduced dramatically. Most small to medium sized businesses who want an own label product will outsource their manufacturing to already compliant manufacturers while focusing on retail (like supermarkets do with their own brand products).
Tanks and Clearomisers
As with e liquids, all tanks and clearomisers must be tested and the MHRA must be notified six months before they can be sold.
Only tanks with a capacity of 2ml and below will be available. Tanks must also be ‘leakproof at the point of refilling’ and deliver a consistent dose of nicotine.
Unfortunately, none of the tanks and clearomisers we currently offer would satisfy the new legislation, mainly because they are not ‘leakproof at the point of refilling’.
However, thankfully, the TPD has focused on the e liquid bottle, rather than the tank, when defining what ‘leakproof refilling’ means. New tanks designed to fill via a small hole that the nozzle of an e liquid bottle fits snugly into should be fine.
On the ‘consistent dose of nicotine’ issue, it looks as if there will be some lenience in interpretation. As long as the tanks deliver a reasonably consistent nicotine dose in lab conditions (which sidesteps unquantifiable, real-world variables, such as how hard or long a user inhales), they will be fine.
Batteries and mods
As far as we understand, batteries and mods sold without a tank or clearomiser should be unaffected by the TPD. This is because they are not capable, in isolation, of vapourising e liquid. However, if a battery and tank are sold together as a kit, the whole kit would need to be compliant.
This probably just means that after November 2017 all batteries and tanks will be sold separately, with retailers perhaps suggesting which would work best together.
Accessories
Accessories such as chargers, cases, lanyards, empty bottles and so on will be unaffected by the TPD.
Flavour concentrates
There shouldn’t be too much disruption to the sales of flavour concentrates for those who make their own e liquid. After all, the flavours themselves, contain no nicotine and are multi-purpose.
Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine
Much like flavourings, PG and VG are multi-purpose, aren’t vaped alone and aren’t really addressed by the TPD.
Nicotine
As far as we know, the issue of the sale of nicotine in PG or VG for DIY e liquid mixing has not yet been clarified.
There is an argument that nicotine isn’t e liquid and isn’t vaped alone, so shouldn’t be subject to the 10ml/20mg limits. Also, nicotine does have other applications (though not really for the general public).
Source of info: http://vapable.com/tobacco-products-directive-information
