From August 11, retailers such as dairies, service stations and supermarkets will be banned from selling vaping products in flavours other than tobacco, mint and menthol.
Only specialist vape retailers will be able to sell other flavours, and from November 28, vaping and smoking in vehicles carrying children will also be banned.
The regulations, overseen by Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall, are intended to strike a balance between ensuring vaping products are not marketed or sold to young people, while ensuring they're available for smokers who want to quit.
But vaping advocates say the Government is going down the wrong path if it hopes to achieve its Smokefree 2025 goals.
"It's crazy that Kiwis desperate to quit cigarettes can walk into a service station and buy any cigarette brand under the sun. They can't, however, access the most popular vape flavours," says Jonathan Devery, co-owner of vape companies Alt New Zealand and VAPO.
An ex-smoker, Devery says the Government needs to monitor the new restrictions to ensure they don't hamper its Smokefree 2025 goals.
"After achieving record-low smoking rates, a return to cigarette smoking would be an absolute disaster," says Devery.
"Tobacco tax takings have been completely walloped by vaping, as Budget 2021 showed. It's then a very interesting time to eliminate 70 percent of vaping products from the same general retail outlets that have traditionally been a cash cow for tobacco revenue."
Tobacco tax revenue fell by almost $700 million, Treasury documents showed in March. The drop was steeper than expected, with the Government collecting $400 million or 28.9 percent less than was forecast in December's Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update.
Unlike cigarette retailers, specialist vape stores will have to be registered, which will enable them to sell a wide range of flavours.
With fewer dedicated vape stores in the likes of rural areas, Devery believes many Kiwis trying to reduce or quit their cigarette habit will only find it harder.
"Banning the most popular vape flavours like dessert and fruit variations in New Zealand's highest traffic retail outlets, but leaving cigarette availability alone, makes no sense.
"If New Zealand is to ever achieve smokefree, the balance must be tilted in favour of safer nicotine alternatives."
Nancy Loucas, co-director of the Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA), agrees that the August 11 vape flavour ban for general retailers will make it harder for adults desperate to quit smoking.
"A full range of cigarettes and tobacco products remain widely available in supermarkets, service stations and dairies. Yet, from 11 August, adults can't readily access their favourite vape flavours from those same retailers," she says.
"Full access to deadly combustible cigarettes and limited access to safer alternatives is a shocking public health policy."
AVCA has long supported the formalisation of vaping as an R18 activity and mandatory product safety standards. But it describes this latest regulation as over the top and hitting the wrong target.
"Point of sale is where the Government needs to get tough. Some serious penalties now apply for retailers who sell to minors. The Government needs to move from educating retailers about the new laws to enforcement," Loucas says.
"Key to getting New Zealand back on track with its 10-year smokefree ambition is elevating vaping as the go-to smoking cessation tool. Ensuring fair adult access to a wide range of vape products needs to be a big part of it.
"If this latest move slows down our national goal to be smoke-free, as AVCA predicts, then the Government's needs to be prepared to do the right thing and reverse it."
More than 2500 people and organisations had their say about the proposed regulations through a public consultation.
Dr Verrall says the rules are about striking a balance.
"It strikes a balance between ensuring these products are not marketed or sold to young people, while ensuring vaping products are available for smokers who want to switch to a less harmful alternative."
'Smokefree Enforcement Officers' will have powers to enter and inspect premises, inspect advertising and vaping products for sale, and take air samples, photographs or other recordings.
"There will be a focus on ensuring protections for children and young people are effectively implemented and enforced."
A full overview and timeline of the final vaping regulations are available on the Ministry of Health website.
