Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (Scotland) Regulations 2024: enforcement guidance

C: Products covered by the Vapes Regulations

Definition of a single-use vape

A single-use or disposable vape is a product that’s neither designed nor intended to be re-used.

For a vape to be considered reuseable, it must be both:

• rechargeable
• refillable

A vape is not considered reuseable, if it is:

• rechargeable but not refillable
• refillable but not rechargeable

A vape is not considered rechargeable if it has a:

• battery you cannot recharge
• coil you cannot buy separately and easily replace

The coil is the part of the vape that’s powered by the battery to produce heat, vaporising the e-liquid. With a reusable vape, you may be able to directly remove and replace the coil or remove and replace the pod or cartridge in which the coil is encased.

A vape is not considered refillable if:

• it has a single-use container, such as a pre-filled pod, that you cannot buy separately and replace
• you cannot refill the container

The container may be in the form of:

• a capsule
• a cartridge
• a pod
• a tank
• anything designed to hold the vaping liquid and be used within the vape

Definition of a reuseable vape

To be reusable, a vape must:

• have a battery you can recharge
• be refillable with vape liquid

If the vape has a coil, it must be one that can be replaced by an average user – this includes any part of the product that heats or generates a vapour when interacting with the product’s ingredients.

The vape may be refilled by either:

• filling up the tank or cartridge with e-liquid
• inserting new pre-filled pods

Refills (pods or vape liquid refill bottles) should be separately available for users to buy.

If the vape has a coil, it may be replaced by either:

• removing and replacing it
• removing and replacing a pod or tank that contains it

The coil (whether part of a replacement pod or tank, or not) should be separately available to buy.