Online nicotine retailer Haypp has launched a new campaign calling for safer nicotine trading laws in the UK, following the country’s recent announcement of a disposable vape ban in England and Wales, followed by Scotland.
Speaking to Better Retailing, Markus Lindblad, head of legal and external affairs, Haypp Group, said: “The proposals could positively impact sales [for retailers], smokers will pick up safer options. Retailers should start changing their stock today [following the disposable vape ban announcement].
“The number of nicotine users will be the same, and they will use nicotine in any form.”
The proposals include a change to:
Child-resistant packaging
Nicotine pouch-cans should be child proof, with child-resistant packaging, in the form of a safety lid, Haypp said. This is to reduce the potential risk of children opening the cans and ingesting the contents.
Safer descriptions
Description of products should not be appealing to anyone who is underage, which includes only using clear and exact descriptions of the flavours, rather than added advertising to sound appealing. For example, ‘strawberry’ would be acceptable, rather than ‘strawberry skittles milkshake’ which would not be acceptable.
Sales behind the counter
Haypp Group wants to ensure that only those consumers who are actively searching for nicotine pouches have access to them. Products such as nicotine pouches should not be on display and instead hidden behind sales counters. This also applies to any online retailers too.
Nicotine levels
Haypp Group has proposed that all products on the market in the UK should have a maximum nicotine level of 20 mg per pouch for safety reasons.
PH levels
Proposals also include all of the products on the market to have a maximum pH-level of 9.1 and a minimum pH-level of 5.6.
Tested products
Haypp Group wants all of the products on the market in the UK to be tested by the standards of Nicoleaks.com, which includes the nicotine and pH level listed above.
Lindblad continued: “Retailers can showcase that they’re responsible and can think for [themselves], then government legislation will be more relevant, [as it becomes] consumer-centric and make sure that we [help] former smokers with the right products. We need to show that we can behave and sell the products responsibly. [Regulating vape restrictions] is more challenging for independent stores [than supermarkets] because you’re maximising every profit, and every turnover.
“As a responsible retailer, we want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to support the government proposals and restrict the promotion of nicotine products. While there is a huge focus currently on vapes, nicotine pouch retailers should also consider the same impact and start to make changes sooner rather than later. There is an urgency now to make changes to create a sustainable industry.”
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