At the beginning of August, New Zealand Parliament has approved The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Act 2020, that will come into effect from 11th November 2020.

The website of the Ministry of Health gives a clear timeline of the steps to follow to comply  with the new regulation. In particular, some of the more interesting  aspects for manufacturers and importers are:

• Vaping in workplaces is prohibited;
• Advertising and sponsorship relating to vaping products is banned;
• Sale of vaping products to under-18s is prohibited;
• Import and sale of oral nicotine products is prohibited;
• Manufacturers and importers must advise the Ministry of any adverse reactions to vaping products.

• Selling of vaping and smokeless tobacco products containing colorings  is no longer allowed

• Manufacturers and importers can start notifying their products

• Only notified products can be sold
• Notification must be renewed every 12 months

Retailers will also undergo important changes: in fact, if vaping products represent  more than 50% of their sales, starting from November 2020 retailers are  allowed to request to operate as a transitional Specialist Vape Retailer (SVR).

SVR will have some advantages over “common” retailers: for example, from 11th August 2021, only SVR will be able to sell all the flavours, while retailers can only sell tobacco/mint/menthol flavors.

Some groups welcome this new regulation: Nabhik Gupta, spokesperson for NZ owned Shosha, forecasts an expansion in stores as a direct result.

The New Zealand government has long recognized vaping as a tool to quit smoking, taking care to give correct information on the transition from traditional to electronic cigarettes, up to finally eliminating these devices as well.

The website vapingfacts.health.nz wanted by the New Zealand Ministry of Health — Manatū Hauora and the Health Promotion Agency/Te Hiringa Hauora (HPA) is one of the tools to reach this goal.