Guides

UK single-use vape ban: what counts as reusable

Since 1 June 2025 businesses in the UK cannot supply single-use vapes. This guide explains what the ban covers and what makes a vape reusable, by product type.

Published . Facts checked against the sources below on . General information, not legal advice.

What the ban says

Since 1 June 2025 it has been an offence in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for a business to supply, offer to supply, or hold for supply a single-use vape. The ban covers online and shop sales, and vapes with or without nicotine. Reusable vapes may still be sold.

The regulations define a single-use vape as one “not designed or intended to be re-used”, and that includes any vape that is not refillable or not rechargeable.

What makes a vape reusable

Government guidance says a reusable vape must have all three of the following.

  1. A rechargeable battery.
  2. A refillable container (chamber, capsule, cartridge, pod or tank), refilled either with e-liquid or by inserting prefilled pods.
  3. If it has a coil, a coil the user can remove and replace, directly or as part of a replaceable pod.

Refills (pods or e-liquid bottles) and coils should be separately available to buy, which means available for an individual user to buy. A coil sealed inside a pod counts as replaceable only if that pod is separately available and user-replaceable.

By product type

Refillable pod kits

A rechargeable battery, a pod the user fills with e-liquid, and a user-replaceable pod or coil. They meet the definition when replacement pods or coils are on sale to individual users.

Prefilled pod kits

A rechargeable battery with a prefilled pod that has a coil inside. Reusable only if the battery is rechargeable and matching prefilled pods are separately available to buy. The seller must keep evidence for each kit.

Replacement pods and e-liquid

These are the refills. For a kit to count as reusable, its refills must be available separately. The guidance says a seller can show this by selling them in the same shop or online store.

Kits without separate pods

A kit whose prefilled pods are not sold separately counts as single-use, as does any vape with a battery that cannot be recharged. Neither may be supplied.

This guide does not say whether any particular product is reusable. That depends on its design, and the seller is responsible for checking. Passing the single-use test does not mean a product meets other UK rules, such as the tank, container and nicotine limits, or MHRA notification. See the UK vape law guide.

Evidence and penalties

In an inspection a seller must show evidence that a product is reusable, the steps taken to check, and that users can buy refills separately. Penalties differ by nation.

England
Civil sanctions first (stop notice, compliance notice, £200 fixed penalty) and seizure. On prosecution, an unlimited fine and up to 2 years in prison.
Wales
£200 fixed or higher variable fines, or prosecution with up to 2 years in the Crown Court.
Scotland
£200 fixed penalty (£150 if paid within 14 days), rising to £400 to £800 for repeat cases, or prosecution with up to 2 years.
Northern Ireland
No civil sanctions. Up to £5,000 on summary conviction, or up to 2 years on indictment.

Sources