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<p>All products intended for use by consumers are regulated under the General Product
Safety Regulations (GPSR) 2005 which implements the EU’s General Product Safety Directive
(GPSD). A producer must not supply a consumer product unless it satisfies the general
safety requirement (regulation 5 of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005).
Further still there is also robust legislation, in the form of the Electrical Equipment
(Safety) Regulations; these implement into UK law the European Council Directive 2006/95/EEC
- commonly referred to as the Low Voltage Directive (LVD) - which cover electrical
products such as chargers. This requires the charger to be safe and constructed to
good engineering practice and be supplied with relevant safety advice and operating
instructions. The enforcement of the legislation falls to Local Authority Trading
Standards Services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The revised Tobacco Products Directive
(Directive 2014/40/EU), which will enter into force from May 2016 will ensure a high
level of health protection for UK citizens. It will establish new rules for the safety,
quality, ingredients and presentation of consumer electronic cigarettes, as well as
refill mechanisms. The new regulations will require six month prior notification of
a range of information before either e-cigarettes or refills are placed on the market.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the meantime, the Department is currently funding a market
surveillance project led by Dorset Trading Standards and involving 40 local authorities
across England to ascertain whether there are significant product safety issues for
the e-cigarette market in the UK. The main deliverable from this project will be a
report with recommendations for future steps to be taken by industry, Trading Standards
and Government. The report will be shared with the relevant enforcement authorities
in the UK.</p><p> </p>
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