New Zealand's New E-cigarette Regulations in October: Removable Batteries And Child Safety Mechanisms Become Mandatory Requirements

New Zealand's new e-cigarette regulations in October: removable batteries and child safety mechanisms become mandatory requirements

The New Zealand Ministry of Health announced that from October 1, 2024, all e-cigarette devices must be equipped with removable batteries and child safety mechanisms, and violators will face heavy fines. The new regulations also include specifications for packaging patterns and flavor names.

On September 24, the New Zealand Ministry of Health announced that all e-cigarette devices must be equipped with removable batteries and child safety mechanisms before October 1, 2024. After that, devices that do not meet these requirements will no longer be sold.

The change is part of the New Zealand government's measures to combat youth use of e-cigarettes reiterated in March this year. The new regulations also include a ban on the use of cartoon or toy patterns on packaging and limiting flavor names to generic descriptions.

These regulations were originally implemented on October 21, 2023 and only applied to disposable e-cigarette devices. From October 1, 2024, all e-cigarette devices (including reusable devices) must contain removable batteries and child safety mechanisms.

Once the new regulations come into effect, retailers, importers and manufacturers will not be able to sell or stock products that do not meet the requirements. Retailers who continue to sell non-compliant products may face fines of up to NZ$50,000 (about US$31,000), while large companies may face fines of up to NZ$400,000 (about US$250,000).