The local retailing sector, as we all know, is beset by a more-or-less constant barrage of new legislation, much of it ill-considered, that more often than not complicates doing business in all sorts of ways, as well as typically serving to frustrate sales.
Much of the madness tends to emanate out of Holyrood, but Westminster also likes to keep its hand in with well-meaning but misguided and clumsy new bits of legislation. And it’s always, always left to retailers to take care of all of the implementation and most, if not all, of the policing and compliance.
The latest example is the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which is packed full of proposals that range from the relatively sensible to the downright off-the-chart bonkers.
There are proposals to restrict the packaging, flavours and display of vaping products, for example. These rules would ostensibly be designed to make vapes less appealing to younger customers. That’s something the entire local retailing sector can wholeheartedly buy into. We all want to tackle youth vaping. But, as we learned from the plain-packaging regs around tobacco, proposals like these, if passed into law, would effectively present the illicit trade with a blank cheque.
In recent years, the vaping category has been plundered hard by the unregulated illicit trade, which has forced the government to be seen to be doing something about it – but the best the government seems to have been able to come up with are rules that basically punish and restrict legitimate retailers who had little or no hand in creating an underage market in the first place.
Then we have the frankly weird generational tobacco ban. No doubt some Whitehall genius is very proud of his or her efforts in coming up with this bizarrely complex roadmap to a smokefree UK. The only other nation on earth to operate a similar system, by the way, is the Maldives – population 500,000 or so – and while the New Zealand government did pass a generational smoking ban law in 2022, it was repealed the following year, presumably because it’s so off-the-chart bonkers.
Essentially, the ban means anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be able to legally buy tobacco – even after they turn 18. The legal age of sale for tobacco then goes up by one year every year. Ultimately, when everyone born before 2009 has died, the sale of tobacco will be fully illegal. So, for example, in 2030 a 21-year-old born in 2009 will not be able to buy tobacco, but a 22-year-old born in 2008 can.
It’s not hard to see the chaos that will ensue at the tillpoint for retailers trying to calculate whether a customer can legally purchase tobacco or not, and the potential flashpoints around refusals.
So, the ask here is that you, as a legitimate retailer, make your voice heard by taking part in the UK-wide consultation that runs until 2 October. You can share your views on the UK Government website.
This is your one and only chance to help shape the legislation that actually comes into force. Don’t miss the opportunity.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
Speak now or forever hold your peace
The local retailing sector, as we all know, is beset by a more-or-less constant barrage of new legislation, much of it ill-considered, that more often than not complicates doing business in all sorts of ways, as well as typically serving to frustrate sales.
Much of the madness tends to emanate out of Holyrood, but Westminster also likes to keep its hand in with well-meaning but misguided and clumsy new bits of legislation. And it’s always, always left to retailers to take care of all of the implementation and most, if not all, of the policing and compliance.
The latest example is the Tobacco and Vapes Act, which is packed full of proposals that range from the relatively sensible to the downright off-the-chart bonkers.
There are proposals to restrict the packaging, flavours and display of vaping products, for example. These rules would ostensibly be designed to make vapes less appealing to younger customers. That’s something the entire local retailing sector can wholeheartedly buy into. We all want to tackle youth vaping. But, as we learned from the plain-packaging regs around tobacco, proposals like these, if passed into law, would effectively present the illicit trade with a blank cheque.
In recent years, the vaping category has been plundered hard by the unregulated illicit trade, which has forced the government to be seen to be doing something about it – but the best the government seems to have been able to come up with are rules that basically punish and restrict legitimate retailers who had little or no hand in creating an underage market in the first place.
Then we have the frankly weird generational tobacco ban. No doubt some Whitehall genius is very proud of his or her efforts in coming up with this bizarrely complex roadmap to a smokefree UK. The only other nation on earth to operate a similar system, by the way, is the Maldives – population 500,000 or so – and while the New Zealand government did pass a generational smoking ban law in 2022, it was repealed the following year, presumably because it’s so off-the-chart bonkers.
Essentially, the ban means anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 will never be able to legally buy tobacco – even after they turn 18. The legal age of sale for tobacco then goes up by one year every year. Ultimately, when everyone born before 2009 has died, the sale of tobacco will be fully illegal. So, for example, in 2030 a 21-year-old born in 2009 will not be able to buy tobacco, but a 22-year-old born in 2008 can.
It’s not hard to see the chaos that will ensue at the tillpoint for retailers trying to calculate whether a customer can legally purchase tobacco or not, and the potential flashpoints around refusals.
So, the ask here is that you, as a legitimate retailer, make your voice heard by taking part in the UK-wide consultation that runs until 2 October. You can share your views on the UK Government website.
This is your one and only chance to help shape the legislation that actually comes into force. Don’t miss the opportunity.
Antony Begley, Publishing Director, SLR
Share on
Read next
Retailers voice concerns over vape display ban proposals
Scottish smoking rate remains highest in UK despite decline
Time to give AI a bigger role in stores?