EU Certification Notes on draft UK disposable e-cigarette ban

In January of this year (2024), the British government announced that disposable e-cigarettes would be banned to protect children (please refer to Luxshare’s January tweet). Subsequently, the Scottish and Welsh governments also confirmed their intention to introduce legislation (for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes). Specifically: On February 23, the Scottish Government released the draft "Environmental Protection (Disposable Electronic Cigarettes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024"

(Draft URL:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/consultation-paper/2024/02/environmental-protection-single-use-vapesscotland-regulations-2024/documents/the-environmental-protection- single-use-vapes-scotland-draft-regulations-2024/the-e)

On March 11, the English government released the draft "Environmental Protection (Disposable E-Cigarettes) (England) Regulations 2024"

(Draft URL:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65eed42d62ff48488387b24e/single-use-vapes-SI.pdf).

The planned effective date of both drafts is April 1, 2025, and the main contents are basically the same (the English draft has additional sections on Supplementary and Civil Sanctions).

Reason for ban

Disposable e-cigarettes have a short life cycle (there is a problem of wasting precious resources), and their waste poses a challenge to environmental protection (there is a problem of contaminating soil and water sources). It is also relatively cheap and easy to obtain (there is a problem of luring young people into smoking).

Ban details

1. The definition of single-use e-cigarette: it is not designed or intended to be re-used and has one of the following characteristics:

a. Not rechargeable

b. Not rechargeable

c. Neither rechargeable nor rechargeable

2. Based on ①a,c, refillable refers to:

a. Contains disposable cartridges/containers and can be replaced, or

b. The cartridge/container can be filled

3. Based on ①b and c, not rechargeable means:

a. The battery is not rechargeable, or

b. During normal use, (non-professional) individual users are not allowed to replace atomizer cores, including disposable cigarette cartridges or atomizer cores that are inseparable and irreplaceable in the cigarette rod.

In other words, e-cigarettes that will be banned in the future refer to those that do not have "repeatable" functions, and the market should develop towards "reusable" use - including ① at least the cigarette rod can be reused (the battery is rechargeable, and it can be used with a disposable Built-in cigarette cartridges or disposable replaceable cigarette cartridges), or ② both the cigarette rod and the cigarette cartridges are reusable (both rechargeable and refillable).

Note: The UK uses both the terms disposable and single-use when describing disposable e-cigarettes. After checking their definitions, the author feels that both should be treated equally when describing e-cigarettes, Vapes. That is, Disposable vape=Single-use Vape. The TPD only uses the expression single use cartridges for disposable cigarette cartridges, which should be distinguished from single-use vapes or disposable vapes.