FLER at APE

The UK’s Vaping Products Duty and Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme will take effect on October 1, 2026. All vaping liquids manufactured in or imported into the UK will face a flat excise duty of £2.20 per 10ml, whether or not they contain nicotine. Newly manufactured or imported products released onto the UK market from October 1 will require a valid duty stamp, while eligible existing unstamped inventory can continue to be sold through March 31, 2027. From April 1, 2027, all vaping products outside duty suspension must carry a valid stamp.

China’s vape exports to the U.S. reached approximately $1.58 billion in the first half of 2026, remaining broadly stable from a year earlier but still below previous growth momentum. 2Firsts’ analysis of China Customs data shows that the U.S. market has not simply returned to its previous trajectory after the enforcement shock and inventory-driven swings of 2025. Instead, export momentum is shifting across product categories. Vaping devices and atomization hardware increased 15.2% year over year, while 6-methyl nicotine-related and other nicotine substitute products surged 234.7%. Meanwhile, traditional nicotine-containing vaping products continued to face pressure.

Cochrane’s 2026 update of its living review on electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation included 80 randomized controlled trials involving 29,861 adult smokers, with nine trials added in this update. The review retained its high-certainty conclusion that nicotine e-cigarettes increase smoking cessation rates compared with nicotine replacement therapy. In absolute terms, about 10 in 100 people using nicotine e-cigarettes may quit smoking for at least six months, compared with about 6 in 100 using NRT. The review found no clear difference in serious adverse event rates between the two groups, while longer-term safety and the relative effectiveness of newer device types remain less certain.

Bret Koplow, acting director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products, will deliver a keynote and participate in a fireside chat at the National Association of Tobacco Outlets' Sept. 29-30 conference in Washington. His appearance comes months after the FDA moved to accelerate PMTA reviews and introduced a more differentiated enforcement policy for certain unauthorized ENDS and oral nicotine pouch products. The agency also plans a public list identifying manufacturers and products it does not currently intend to prioritize for enforcement under the May guidance. NATO says its membership includes more than 66,000 retail stores, making product-status transparency and enforcement boundaries directly relevant to the retail sector.

China-based Shenzhen Huabao Collaborative Innovation Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. has filed a patent application for a nicotine-ascorbic acid cocrystal, exploring a new solid-state form of nicotine. The patent proposes applications across e-liquids, heated tobacco sticks, oral tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. In nicotine pouch tests disclosed in the filing, cocrystal formulations showed less than a 6% decline in nicotine content after three months of accelerated storage and a release profile combining early-stage release with sustained delivery over 60 minutes. The filing reflects exploration of nicotine forms beyond conventional nicotine base and nicotine salts.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection proposal to collect foreign export declarations and other overseas customs documents could expose discrepancies in the value, classification and description of China-made vape shipments entering the United States. A veteran Chinese logistics professional told 2Firsts that the measure, if implemented, could undermine the all-inclusive shipping model used by some unauthorized vape exporters and push parts of the trade toward costlier underground channels. The risk extends beyond higher duties: accurately declared products may also be more readily identified as unauthorized e-cigarettes subject to FDA enforcement.