BELFAST City Council has responded to a UK-wide consultation on vaping and tobacco by proposing vapes should only be sold from behind the counter and with “unattractive” flavours.
The ‘Smokefree Generation’ consultation was published last month by the UK Department of Health and Social Care, in partnership with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland.
It makes proposals for restrictions on the sale of tobacco and vapes, including a proposed UK-wide ban on the sale of disposable vape products.
In April 2023, the council agreed to convene a working group with the NI Department of Health, the Public Health Agency and the PSNI to consider measures to strengthen current legislation and enforcement, including the consideration of a ban on the sale of disposable vapes.
The use of vapes by under-18s on all council sites has been banned.
At the council’s recent monthly meeting of its People and Communities Committee, elected members approved the council officer's reply to the consultation.
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The British government is proposing to bring forward legislation making it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1 2009. In effect, the law will stop children turning 14 or younger this year from ever legally being sold tobacco products.
The consultation also sets out proposed measures to address youth vaping, including restricting flavours, regulating point of sale displays, regulating packaging and presentation and considering restricting the supply and sale of disposable vapes. It also proposes consideration of whether regulations should extend to non-nicotine vapes.
The Belfast City Council response states it is "of the opinion that mandatory age identification checks should be introduced along with this legislation to ensure that retailers operate a mandatory no ID, no sale policy to prevent anyone born on/after the 1st January 2009 from purchasing vapes.
“The acceptable forms of ID should be specified. In addition, online age verification must be enhanced to stop underage sales of tobacco products and vapes online.”
The council also argues vapes - which it agrees can "have a role in smoking cessation" - should be reduced to tobacco flavours only and sold in plain standardised packaging.
"Restricting flavours will make vapes unattractive and prevent uptake and avoid future addiction in young people," the council response states, adding that vaping devices should be kept behind shop counters and not on display.
Meanwhile, the council argues that a negative registration scheme for retailers selling vapes should be introduced.
“This would provide councils with a comprehensive list of retailers who sell vapes without the excessive cost or administrative burden for both businesses and councils that a licensing scheme would likely introduce," the response adds.
“The council does not agree that exemptions should be made for specialist vape shops. Unlike specialist tobacco retailers, which are rare, there are a large number/proliferation of specialist vape shops.”
On disposable vapes, the council argues that sales should be prohibited.
“There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that disposable vapes are often incorrectly disposed of in household waste and recycling bins, as well as in street litter bins," the response adds.
"Given their discrete size, disposable vapes often go undetected within household waste and recycling streams, until it is too late to deal with them appropriately."
The committee also agreed a proposal by Alliance councillor Micky Murray to call for the limit of nicotine in alternative tobacco products to be reduced to 0.8milligrams.
