The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 received royal assent on 29 April 2026, granting the Secretary of State in England, and equivalent ministers in Wales and Northern Ireland, power to create a retail licensing scheme covering tobacco, vapes and nicotine products together, the first time a shop would need a dedicated licence to sell these products anywhere outside Scotland, where a lighter touch registration system has existed since 2017.

The stated aims are to protect public health, particularly for children, and to prevent crime, so only law abiding retailers can sell these products. In practice, that is expected to work much like an alcohol licence, with conditions a shop must meet and the ability to refuse or take a licence away from a retailer that keeps breaking the rules. A 2023 ASH report found 83 percent of the public already support tobacco retail licensing of this kind.

The government first gathered views through a call for evidence on retail licensing between October and December 2025, covering flavours, nicotine strength, product design and how a licensing system might work. Many expected a full consultation on the licensing process to follow fairly soon after royal assent in April 2026.

That has not happened. The government has now confirmed the consultation on how licensing will work in practice has been pushed into 2027. Other parts of the Act remain on schedule: smoke free generation rules take effect on 1 January 2027 and the advertising and sponsorship ban follows on 1 June 2027, so the delay looks specific to the licensing detail rather than a wider pause.

Even before a formal licence exists, the direction on enforcement is clear. The government's plans set out on the spot penalties of £2,500 for breaches, unlimited fines through the courts for serious or repeated offences, and Northern Ireland courts able to impose fines of up to £5,000. Once licensing exists, a retailer that keeps breaking the rules would also risk losing the licence itself, rather than simply facing another fine.

The scale of the problem helps explain the high level of support. Research from King's College London and University College London found 53 percent of children aged 11 to 18 showed interest in vapes with branded packaging, falling to 38 percent with plain packaging, while adult interest stayed roughly the same either way, evidence behind both the packaging rules already in motion and the case for keeping rogue sellers out of the market.

None of this changes how you buy a vape today. Age verification, correct labelling and the duty stamps that arrived on 1 October 2026 remain the practical signs of a retailer doing things properly, and our guide to spotting a fake or faulty vape covers those checks. What licensing adds, once it exists, is a formal backstop: a shop that cannot meet its licence conditions will not be allowed to sell these products at all.

For now, the simplest thing a buyer can do is stick with a retailer that already behaves as if the stricter rules have arrived: correct health warnings, visible age verification, a genuine UK contact address and properly stamped e-liquid. Our UK Laws & Regulations page has the fuller picture, our Age Verification page explains how we check age at the point of sale, and our About Us page has more on who we are as a retailer.