The New Nicotine Alliance has produced a response guide to the UK government’s consultation on tobacco and vapes packaging, appearance, and display. The consultation is open to everyone and closes at 11:59pm on 2 October 2026.
The briefing identifies the questions NNA believes matter most for vaping products, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products. It also explains why rules intended to protect young people should be proportionate and should not make reduced-risk alternatives look indistinguishable from cigarettes.
This article summarises NNA’s original published briefing (PDF). Read the full document for NNA’s proposal-by-proposal guidance.
Start with the official consultation
You do not have to answer every question. You can focus on the proposals that affect you or on which you have relevant experience. The online form also lets you save your answers and return later.
Be clear, firm, polite, and constructive. The consultation asks about the aims of the proposals, how they could work in practice, and any problems they might cause. Personal experience can help explain those practical effects.
NNA’s central concern
In NNA’s assessment, treating reduced-risk nicotine products in the same way as combustible cigarettes could reinforce public misunderstanding and make switching away from smoking less attractive.
That distinction runs through the briefing. NNA argues that regulation should recognise the difference between combustion and non-combustion, preserve useful information for adults, and target features that appeal to children without unnecessarily restricting lawful products for adults.
Packaging and health information
The consultation includes proposals on plain packaging, text and picture health warnings, and pack inserts for tobacco and heated tobacco products.
NNA supports using inserts in cigarette and other combustible tobacco packs to direct people who smoke towards quitting and reduced-risk alternatives. Its briefing argues that heated tobacco should not carry identical treatment or messaging to cigarettes where that would obscure differences in relative risk. It also says that vapes and nicotine pouches should be recognised as options for adults seeking to stop smoking.
For vaping and nicotine products, NNA supports clear consumer information. The briefing particularly calls for nicotine pouch strength to be displayed consistently and clearly.
Flavour descriptions
The proposals concern the words used to describe flavours, rather than banning flavours outright. NNA warns that limiting products to a single lead flavour word could still remove useful distinctions between products. For example, Blueberry and Blueberry Ice tell an adult consumer different things about the expected experience.
The briefing points to ASH’s survey of adult vaping in Great Britain, including findings on adults who use ice flavours and the possible effect of flavour restrictions on smoking. NNA’s view is that the government should consider whether descriptor rules would make products harder for adults to understand or could push some people back towards cigarettes.
If this affects you, explain which information you use when choosing a product and what could happen if that information disappeared.
Device appearance and screens
The government is considering restrictions on colours, branding, imagery, artwork, and digital screens on vaping and heated tobacco devices.
NNA agrees that products intended for adults should not imitate toys, cartoons, sweets, or other objects likely to appeal to children. But it argues that broader restrictions need evidence and should not remove practical features. A screen that shows battery life or device settings, for example, serves a functional purpose.
The briefing also warns that forcing reduced-risk products into cigarette-like visual rules could strengthen the mistaken impression that the products carry the same risks as smoking.
Child-resistant packaging
NNA supports child-resistant packaging for refill bottles and tanks. It asks the government to use the international ISO standard for reclosable child-resistant packaging.
The briefing also asks policymakers to consider accessibility. Packaging should protect children without becoming unnecessarily difficult for adults with dexterity problems to open and use.
Displays, prices, and specialist shops
The consultation proposes restrictions on how vaping, nicotine, heated tobacco, and related products and prices can be displayed in shops.
NNA argues that hiding reduced-risk products alongside cigarettes would send the wrong message about relative risk. It also says price and nicotine-strength information help adults make informed purchases.
Specialist vape shops deserve particular attention in consultation responses. Their staff can demonstrate devices, help adults choose appropriate products, and work with smoking-cessation services. If you use or run a specialist retailer, explain what advice the shop provides and how display restrictions would change that service.
The government’s own impact assessment
The consultation-stage impact assessment says display restrictions could discourage some adults who smoke from switching to less harmful alternatives such as vapes. NNA believes this risk applies across the combined package of measures: if packaging, devices, flavours, and displays all make reduced-risk products less understandable or less accessible, fewer people may switch.
This is a useful issue to address in your response. Explain what helped you move away from smoking, what information or support you relied on, and whether the proposals would have made that change harder.
Protect children without undermining adult harm reduction
Protecting children is a legitimate objective. NNA’s briefing supports robust age restrictions, enforcement against youth access, child-resistant packaging, and rules against designs that imitate toys or sweets.
The question is whether the wider proposals are proportionate. Rules should reduce youth appeal without concealing lawful alternatives from adults, stripping away useful product information, or reinforcing the belief that vaping and smoking are the same.
Make your response count
You do not need to be a policy expert, and you do not need to complete the questionnaire in one sitting. Focus on the questions that matter to you and give practical examples wherever you can.
Respond to the consultation before 11:59pm on 2 October 2026, then write to your MP so they understand why proportionate, evidence-led rules matter in their constituency.