Under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, every e-cigarette and e-liquid sold in the UK must be notified to and published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, before it goes on sale. The same regulations set firm limits on the product itself.

• Tanks are limited to a capacity of no more than 2ml.
• Refill containers, such as 10ml e-liquid bottles, cannot hold more than 10ml of nicotine containing e-liquid.
• E-liquid nicotine strength is capped at 20mg per ml.
• Packaging must be child resistant and tamper evident, carry the required warnings, and cannot contain banned ingredients such as added colourings, caffeine or taurine.

A product that breaks any of these rules, or that was never notified to the MHRA at all, is illegal to sell in the UK, whatever the packaging claims. From 1 October 2026, a further requirement is added: e-liquid and vaping stock must also carry a valid duty stamp under the new Vaping Products Duty, as we explained in our duty stamps guide.

The scale of the illegal vape market has been building for years. National Trading Standards reported that local authorities seized nearly 1.2 million illegal vapes in 2023 to 2024 alone, a 59 per cent increase on the year before, alongside more than 26 million pounds worth of illicit tobacco. In March 2025, the government responded with a 10 million pound funding boost for Trading Standards, 80 new apprentice enforcement officers, and a new 200 pound on the spot fine in England and Wales for age of sale breaches.

That funding sits alongside the wider Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, which reached Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and has already brought in age verification and proxy purchasing rules and a generational tobacco sales ban. Illegal vapes sit outside that legislative programme but are being targeted through the same push, since unregistered stock also means unpaid duty once the new tax regime begins.

On 12 June 2026, gov.uk confirmed the launch of a new High Street Organised Crime Unit at HMRC, backed by more than 30 million pounds of funding and around 350 new criminal investigators, roughly half focused on high street disruption. The unit plans more than 30,000 interventions across 2026 and 2027, targeting sectors including vape shops, convenience stores and souvenir shops.

The announcement described unannounced visits already carried out at six shops in central London, where officers downloaded till data and opened tax compliance enquiries, part of a wider operation that has previously recovered 13 million pounds in suspected criminal proceeds. Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Dan Tomlinson said HMRC is "stepping up its action to go after illegal activity on our high streets." HMRC and Border Force also run a separate strategy against illicit tobacco worth around 100 million pounds.

On 10 September 2026, gov.uk confirmed one of the clearest examples yet of what illegal vape enforcement looks like in practice. Two Glasgow company directors, Kyle McGinness and Leanne Moynes, were disqualified from running a company for nine years each after their business imported more than 350,000 vapes from China between February and April 2023, falsely declared as medical nebulisers.

Border Force intercepted the shipment at Harwich, and HMRC's investigation found the company had avoided more than 15 million pounds in VAT and customs duty, plus a further 437,101 pounds in unpaid corporation tax, before going into liquidation in 2024. The case shows illegal vapes are not always obviously counterfeit on the surface. Some are deliberately mislabelled to get past checks entirely, which is exactly why buying from a retailer that can show its own compliance matters.

National Trading Standards has said that the illegal vapes its operations seize "failed to meet basic UK safety standards, with most containing excess nicotine levels." That matters because the MHRA notification process exists to confirm a product has been assessed against those standards before it reaches a shop shelf. An illegal vape has skipped that step, so there is no way to verify what is inside it, how much nicotine it delivers, or whether its packaging meets the required standard.

We are not able to make medical claims about vaping as a category, and this article makes none. The point here is narrower and factual: buying from a source that follows the legal notification and duty process is the only way to know a product has actually been checked against UK rules.

A few simple checks go a long way.

• Buy from a registered UK retailer with a proper business address and clear age verification at checkout, such as our own age verification process.
• Check the product carries UK health warnings and child resistant packaging, and does not exceed a 2ml tank, a 10ml refill bottle or 20mg per ml nicotine strength.
• From 1 October 2026, look for the new duty stamp on e-liquid and vape packaging.
• Be wary of prices far below the market rate, unbranded packaging, or sellers with no fixed address, all common signs of illegal stock.
• If in doubt, our vaping knowledge hub and FAQ page cover the basics of choosing a genuine product.