Scotland expands retailer register to nicotine and herbal smoking products

NEWS DESK — Scotland has expanded its retailer register to include nicotine and herbal smoking products, adding to a system that already covered tobacco and vapes. The expansion took effect on 29 October 2026.

Offences for carrying on the newly covered businesses without registration, or at premises not recorded for the relevant business, are due to begin on 29 April 2027, according to a Scottish Government impact assessment. The Pharmaceutical Journal reported the change on 30 October.

The April date is not the start of registration for all tobacco and vape sellers. Scotland introduced a tobacco register in 2011 and extended it to vaping products in 2017. The Pharmaceutical Journal reported that Scotland will be the first UK nation with a register covering premises selling this wider range of products.

Who is covered

Government guidance lists nicotine pouches, strips and pearls among the newly covered products, as well as herbal cigarettes and shisha. Businesses that only sell wholesale do not need to join the register.

The public can search the register, and trading standards officers use it to support enforcement. The Scottish Government says expanding it is intended to help identify sellers and support enforcement. The effect on young people's access to these products has not yet been established by the available evidence.

Scottish minister Maree Todd said registration provides a foundation for effective regulation and enforcement. She urged retailers to register before the deadline, The Pharmaceutical Journal reported.

Licensed quit products exempt

The Scottish Government told the journal that registration is not required for supplying medically licensed products such as nicotine replacement therapies. That exemption concerns the licensed products; it does not mean every nicotine product sold by a pharmacy is exempt.

Pharmacies also play a role in helping people try to stop smoking. Public Health Scotland figures cited by the journal show community pharmacies supported 21,888 quit attempts in 2024/25, accounting for 70.4% of the Scottish total. Those figures count attempts, not confirmed lasting success in stopping smoking.

Gordon Winter of Community Pharmacy Scotland described the measures as a vital step to prevent nicotine use among young people. He also noted pharmacies' role in supporting more than 20,000 quit attempts a year and said more than 650,000 people in Scotland still smoke.

Wider UK measures

The register expansion sits alongside wider UK measures introduced under the Tobacco and Vapes Act. From 29 October 2026, the ban on sales to under-18s was extended to nicotine-free vapes and nicotine pouches, strips and pearls. Adults are also banned from buying these products for under-18s.

Although the Act bans promotional giveaways, a government announcement said local authority stop smoking services can continue providing products to help adults who smoke quit, according to The Pharmaceutical Journal.

Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of ASH, said the rules protect children from marketing while noting that nicotine products are less harmful than smoking and may help people quit. She welcomed the exception for stop smoking services.

ATTRIBUTION: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 30 October 2026; Scottish Government impact assessment, 26 June 2026; Scottish Government and mygov.scot guidance.

PHOTO: AI-generated; for illustrative purposes only.