On 21 August the New Zealand Ministry of Health published the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Regulations, setting a nicotine concentration limit of 20 mg/mL for disposable vaping products; the limit for nicotine salts is reduced from 50 mg/mL to 28.5 mg/mL (and may only be used in reusable devices); and batteries must be removable.

In addition, new rules are set for packaging, new product safety requirements and retail restrictions: flavour descriptions on vaping products and their packaging may only use one or two flavour names listed in Schedule 4A, and depictions of cartoon or toy characters on vaping products and packaging are prohibited.

The amendment regulations require manufacturers to change product structure and packaging design quickly to meet the requirements, which may raise production costs and will have a considerable impact on the compliant New Zealand market. The provisions take effect in stages from 21 September 2023.

Details

Packaging requirements

The current labelling and packaging rules have been amended as follows:

(1) The product name on vaping products and their packaging must describe only the actual flavour, using a maximum of two flavour names as specified in Schedule 4A of the Regulations.

Effective dates:

From 21 October 2023 - New Zealand manufacturers and importers of notifiable products may only notify vaping products that use permitted flavour descriptions.

From 21 March 2024 - New Zealand manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers may only sell vaping products that use permitted flavour descriptions.

(2) The packaging of vaping products or smokeless tobacco products must not contain any element or feature depicting a cartoon or toy.

Effective dates:

From 21 March 2024 - New Zealand manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers may not sell vaping or smokeless tobacco products whose packaging bears cartoon or toy images.

Product safety requirements

The existing product safety requirements for vaping products have been extended to include the following. The product safety requirements in force before these amendment regulations took effect remain in force until the new requirements apply.

Disposable vaping products

All disposable vaping products must meet the following requirements:

A safety mechanism to prevent child activation or accidental operation;

A removable battery;

A label bearing the specified information, including batch number and the nicotine content in mg/mL as required by the regulations;

Nicotine concentration in disposable vaping products must not exceed 20 mg/mL.

Effective dates:

From 21 October 2023 - New Zealand manufacturers and importers of notified products may only notify disposable vaping products that meet the latest product safety requirements.

From 21 December 2023 - New Zealand manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers may only sell disposable products that meet the latest product safety requirements.

Reusable vaping products

Reusable vaping products must meet the following requirements:

A safety mechanism to prevent child activation or accidental operation;

A removable battery;

Nicotine salt concentration must not exceed 28.5 mg/mL.

Effective dates:

From 21 October 2023 - New Zealand manufacturers and importers of notified products may only notify reusable vaping products that meet the product safety requirements.

From 21 March 2024 - New Zealand manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers may only sell reusable vaping products that meet the product safety requirements.

Specialist vape retailers - approval requirements

Regulatory summary

The premises of a potential new specialist vape retailer must be at least 300 metres from:

Schools registered on the Ministry of Education website.

Marae listed on the Te Puni Kokiri website.

Effective date:

From 21 September 2023 the vaping regulator will not approve applications to establish vaping premises within 300 metres of a school or marae.

Notifiable product seller notification requirements

Relevant fees can be found on the Ministry's website.

Regulatory summary

All New Zealand manufacturers and importers of notifiable products must have notified all their products.

Effective date:

By 1 October 2023, all New Zealand manufacturers and importers of notifiable products must have notified all their products, including herbal vaping products.

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