Ensure your ecigarette shop is fully compliant with Nochex!
This article is for e-cigarette merchants who use Nochex to accept payments. Its purpose is to describe current UK regulation. This is with particular regard to ensuring that your website conforms to the rules. And, to address mistakes commonly made by merchants. This article is written to help your website stay safe, legal and beyond reproach.
The primary legislation is The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. From this the most important requirements for selling e-cigarettes online have been:
If you distribute Cannabidiol then you must provide evidence of a certificate of analysis from the manufacturer. This is with regards to independent testing to show that your products do not contain the controlled substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
You must not make medicinal claims for these products. You cannot say products containing nicotine are suitable for cutting down, quitting or reducing the harms of smoking. Such claims can only be made for medicinal products. Medicinal products must have the approval of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Proof of authorisation is required in order for you to make medicinal claims. Without authorisation any medicinal claims must be removed from your website.
Merchants must have a disclaimer on the homepage of their website. The disclaimer should state that “Nicotine is an addictive substance”. Alternatively, you could put this disclaimer in your page footer.
It is illegal to sell electronic cigarettes or e-liquids to people under 18 years of age. As such, you must have an age verification and age checking facility on entry to your website. This is to ensure your customers have confirmed they are over the age of 18.
If you supply e-cigarettes outside the UK your business needs to be registered with the UK Government. This applies to merchants selling online. This also applies to:
Registering is a legal requirement under The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations. You can register your business from the link here.
When you are selling e-liquids make sure you do not have any Copyrighted images or Intellectual Property references. This is particularly applies for things like sweets, tobacco, food brands or labels.
If you make them, all new e-cigarettes and e-liquids must be notified to MHRA. This must be done before they can be sold. Business to business sales, that is sales not to consumers, do not need to be registered.
If you are a retailer only, then existing e-cigarette products do not need to be registered. This does not apply to wholesalers or manufacturers.
If you would like to know more about UK e-cigarettes regulations for consumers click here. To see the EU’s legal position click here. To discuss any questions you have from this article, contact your Account Manager.
If you’re interested in selling CBD based products, which are often closely linked with e-cigarettes, you can read our handy guide to CBD online payments.