Research: RPC opinion: tobacco and vapes packaging, appearance and display

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Regulatory Policy Committee's opinion of the quality of the evidence and analysis in the Department of Health and Social Care's options assessments. Get emails about this page Documents RPC opinion: options for standardising packaging for vaping products and nicotine products HTML RPC opinion: options for standardised packaging and pack inserts for tobacco products HTML RPC opinion: options for restricting the appearance of vapes and heated tobacco products HTML RPC opinion: options for restricting the display of vaping, nicotine products and tobacco related devices and products HTML The government has published a consultation seeking views on proposals to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products for 4 measures under the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 . The Regulatory Policy Committee ( RPC ) gave a ‘green’ rating to the earlier stage options assessments for all 4 measures in November 2025. This means that we considered them to be ‘fit for purpose’ based on our scrutiny of the evidence and analysis supporting the case for why regulation is necessary. The RPC ’s related opinion on smoke-free, vape-free and heated tobacco-free places was published earlier this year. The RPC ’s opinion refers to the evidence and analysis presented in each assessment, not the merits of the policy itself. The Department of Health and Social Care ( DHSC ) has informed the RPC that following issue of our opinions last year, the impact assessments have been updated for consistency and to reflect current estimates. Under the Better Regulation Framework , DHSC is not required to submit the impact assessments that have been published with the consultation to the RPC for further independent scrutiny. Get emails about this page Print this page Related content Is this page useful? Maybe Yes this page is useful No this page is not useful Thank you for your feedback Report a problem with this page Help us improve GOV.UK Do not include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab and requires JavaScript ) .