According to HMRC's published guidance on the Vaping Products Duty and Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme, two types of stamp were allowed to coexist during 2026 to give manufacturers time to adapt their production lines. Transitional stamps carry physical security features but no digital element, and approved businesses have been able to buy them since 1 April 2026. Digital stamps, which add a scannable feature that lets businesses and HMRC authenticate and trace a product, have been available in parallel since 1 September 2026.

That overlap period is now closing. Approved businesses can buy transitional stamps only until 30 November 2026, and the last day any transitional stamp may be affixed to a retail unit is 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, digital stamps are the only type that may be applied to vaping products entering the UK market, regardless of how far along a manufacturer's own transition was.

HMRC's guidance sets out different obligations depending on where a business sits in the supply chain. Manufacturers need to order digital stamps and prepare their production equipment well ahead of 1 January 2027, since every retail unit must carry a valid stamp before it is released onto the UK market. Warehousekeepers need to confirm that their existing approval actually covers Vaping Products Duty, or amend it, and should check their own stamp ordering and digital requirements in good time.

Overseas manufacturers who want stamps affixed during production need to appoint a UK representative, who orders the stamps and keeps records until the product enters the UK. HMRC notes that approval applications can take more than forty five working days, so a business that has not yet applied is already working to a tight margin.

Retailers sit in a different position. No approval is needed simply to buy duty stamped stock or to pay the duty as part of a purchase price, since that responsibility sits further up the supply chain. The practical task for a retailer is checking any remaining unstamped stock well ahead of the clearance deadlines below, rather than applying for approval directly.

For everyday shoppers, the 1 January 2027 change is unlikely to be visible at the till. A correctly stamped bottle looks much the same whether the stamp behind the packaging is transitional or digital, and the duty itself, £2.20 per 10ml, does not change. What does matter is the stock clearance timetable sitting behind the stamp switch. Retailers can continue selling unstamped stock made or imported before 1 October 2026 until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027, every vaping product sold in the UK outside duty suspension must carry a valid duty stamp, with no further grace period in the guidance.

The penalties for getting this wrong are not minor. HMRC's guidance describes manufacturing, importing or storing vaping products without the required approval after 1 October 2026 as a serious offence, carrying civil penalties and the possibility of seizure, with criminal prosecution available in serious cases. Tampering with, forging, losing or wrongly affixing a stamp carries its own separate penalties on top of that.

• If you manufacture, import or warehouse vaping products, treat 1 January 2027 as a hard cut off for transitional stamps, not a soft target.
• If you are clearing older stock, 31 March 2027 is the last date unstamped pre October 2026 stock may still be sold, and 1 April 2027 is when every product needs a valid stamp regardless of age.
• If you simply buy vaping liquid for your own use, there is nothing new to do, beyond continuing to check for a visible duty stamp on anything you buy.