New E-Cigarette Advertising Rule

On 1 February 2017, the Committee of Advertising Practice ("CAP"), the body responsible for writing and maintaining the UK advertising codes, introduced a new rule in relation to e-cigarette advertising in its non-broadcast code of advertising ("CAP Code").

The new rule reflects changes to the law which came into force in the UK on 20 May 2016 via the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (the "TRPR") (which implements the revised European Tobacco Products Directive 2014 (the "Directive")) i.e. the legislative bans on advertising of certain e-cigarette products across certain media platforms.

New rule 22.12 of the CAP Code prohibits the direct and indirect promotion of unlicensed nicotine containing electronic cigarettes, e-liquids and their components in newspapers, magazines, periodicals, online media and some other forms of electronic media.