The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Commencement No. 1, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026 - Business Regulatory Impact Assessment

Section 5: Next steps and implementation

Recommendations/ preferred options

The preferred option is to:

Commence the amendments relating to the extension of the register 6 months after Royal Assent. Commence the amendments for registration offences 6 months later (12 months after Royal Assent), to provide a period of familiarisation for businesses.

The purpose of commencing amendments for the registration offences later would be to give people time to register between the extended register being “open for business” and the registration offences coming into force.

Implementation considerations/ plan

Guidance will be developed to support the transition ahead of the commencement date, and engage through the registration platform to ensure that there is engagement with a significant proportion of retailers to whom these new obligations will apply. The commencement period and extended period for the registration offence provisions will provide a suitable period for businesses and local authorities to familiarise themselves and comply with the new requirements.

Post implementation review

There will continue to be engagement with business and local authorities throughout the transition period to ensure that businesses are able to comply within this timeframe. There is regular engagement with Local Authorities through SCOTSS, who can highlight whether they are seeing a high number of unregistered businesses following commencement of the provisions, to understand whether the implementation period provided by the commencement period was suitable.

In terms of the wider Act, the UK Government has committed the Secretary of State to carry out a review of the operation of this Act during the relevant period, and prepare and lay before Parliament a report setting out the conclusions of that review.