The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is undertaking extensive targeted consultation to seek comments from affected stakeholders on proposed reforms to the regulation of vapes in Australia.
The TGA conducted a public consultation from November 2022 to January 2023 to seek comments on potential reforms to the regulation of nicotine vapes to prevent children and adolescents from accessing nicotine vapes, while supporting lawful access to these products for smoking cessation.
Following the results of the 2022 consultation and advice from health experts, the Minister for Health and Aged Care announced on 2 May 2023 the Government’s intention to take strong action to address the importation, manufacture and supply of unlawful vapes by introducing a comprehensive range of reforms, including those to:
To inform the development of the reforms, the TGA is consulting on four broad proposals:
Consultation paper
Consultation paper - Proposed reforms to the regulation of vapes.
Making a submission
To make a submission:
This consultation will be open until COB 21 September 2023 and feedback can be provided via the 'Online Survey' link at the bottom of this page.
Note that if you make a submission, it will be published to comply with Australia’s obligations under Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which requires Australia to protect its public health policies from all commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. Those interests may be related to tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems, including for example, vapes. The Guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 require that the Australian Government ensures that any interaction with the tobacco industry on matters related to tobacco control or public health is accountable and transparent.
On request, we will remove individuals' names from submissions before publication. We will not publish personal email addresses, telephone numbers or home addresses. On request, we will consider redacting sensitive commercial information.
Some people may find issues relating to the proposed vaping reforms distressing. If you or someone you know needs additional support, please contact any of the below crisis support helplines:
The current evidence base suggests that the reforms, which commenced on 1 October 2021 relating to the scheduling of nicotine for human therapeutic use as a prescription medicine under the Poisons Standard, are not sufficiently achieving their objectives. Vape marketing and use in Australia has increased in recent years, particularly among young people. Vapes are being accessed by many users through illegitimate channels, rather than through lawful supply channels with a prescription. These developments pose a major risk to population health and have the potential to disrupt the significant achievements that Australia has made in tobacco control to date.
The TGA is seeking input from targeted stakeholders regarding support for, and the impact of, the proposed reforms.