IBVTA Discusses the Illicit Trade

The BBC sent Freedom of Information requests to 136 Trading Standards departments in England. Out of those, 133 departments replied. The BBC says they discovered that over the last three years:

• 6,169,822 illegal were seized
• Retailers were caught by test purchase sting operations 3,766 times selling vapes to children
• Retailers were caught by test purchase sting operations 7,594 times selling non-MHRA registered products

Speaking to BBC Radio Kent, Marcus Saxton explained that retailers supplying illegal products has been a problem for the industry for a number of years.

“In many ways, I'm very pleased the BBC has done this freedom of information request to bring it to the public attention,” he said.

“Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous sellers that will purchase these products, likely linked to more organised crime, potentially not pay VAT on these products, and ultimately, as your other contributor says, the simple red flag here is these have not gone through the notification process that professional manufacturers and businesses will do to ensure these products meet the UK safety standards.”

Saxton explained that there is a very good reason for the safety standards: “It's not just to take the fun out of it, people have measured how much nicotine you should safely have. They're thinking about your health and of course the right health warnings need to be on the packets too. It is certainly in the interests of a consumer.”

He emphasised how the sale of illicit products presents a problem for normal consumers. On first glance, it is not clear if a product is illicit and the retailer is operating illegally. But, he added, there are signs that consumers can look out for.

“Are they doing takeback schemes? Are they recycling the vapes? Ask a few questions and ultimately buy from a reputable retailer, whether that be a national chain or an independent that is giving you good advice. Expertise should give you that reassurance,” Marcus Saxton highlighted.

“It’s worth just reiterating that they shouldn't be sold to children, they're for adults to help them give up smoking.”

“It's been a transformative benefit vaping has had over the last sort of 15 years for smokers, but they are designed for smokers. It is illegal today to sell to minors and unfortunately, given the last two to three years, single-use vapes have made it far easier to sell these products. So, effectively, they are ubiquitous across the high street,” he added.

The issue is that the usual business being operated isn’t used to dealing with products that carry age protocols, the traders aren’t used to asking for IDs.

Explaining the forthcoming ban on single-use/disposable vapes, Saxton said that the ban is being brought in for environmental reasons due to disposables entering landfills and causing issues at waste treatment centres.

An unfortunate side effect of the ban, he believes, will be that some retailers will continue to supply the products illegally. Marcus Saxton says that it’s therefore really important for consumers to flag the sale of these products to Trading Standards when they see them in shops.

He continued: “There was a survey recently though which I think should give you heart, which is that actually there's been a decline in people buying disposable vapes ahead of that ban - so I think a lot of people are getting on board and … if you want to vape, and if you're using it for the right reasons, you will actually invest and not just buy a one-off vaping product.

“Ironically, single use vapes have been the most expensive way to vape. The reason that they've played such a role is because they are so simple to use for a consumer compared to many years ago, these products were quite complicated - that's not the case anymore. Therefore, as you say, for consumers, it's in their interest to refill a product; they're very simple to use and much better for the environment, so that trend is already taking place and will certainly accelerate post the ban.”

Photo Credit:

• Photo by Max Fleischmann on Unsplash, resized and cropped, logo added

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.