A new statutory instrument signed by Diana Johnson at the Department of Health and Social Care updates how investigatory powers legislation refers to tobacco and vaping offences. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Directed Surveillance and Covert Human Intelligence Sources) (Amendment) Order 2026 was made on 1 September 2026, laid before Parliament on 2 September 2026, and takes effect in two stages. Most of the Order comes into force on 29 October 2026. Two further changes, both linked to the new birth-date based tobacco offences in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, do not begin until 1 January 2027.
The explanatory note states that the purpose is alignment rather than expansion. The Order amends the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Directed Surveillance and Covert Human Intelligence Sources) Order 2010 so that the offence list used in council surveillance authorisations matches the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. That matters because article 7A of the 2010 Order limits when certain council officials may grant authorisations for directed surveillance. If the offence list is out of date, enforcement teams risk relying on repealed or superseded references at the point where approval is sought.
In plain terms, the amendment sits at the approval stage for covert investigations. Directed surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is the form of covert monitoring used for a specific investigation, and the 2010 Order says which local authority officers may approve it and for which offences. Nothing in this instrument creates a new stand-alone power for councils to monitor retailers, purchasers or intermediaries. Its function is narrower: it updates the statutory gateway so that existing approval rules continue to work after Parliament changed the underlying tobacco and vaping offences.
From 29 October 2026, the Order replaces the old offence of selling nicotine products to persons under 18 with the section 10 offence in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, covering the sale of vaping or nicotine products to under 18s. It also removes the earlier reference to purchasing nicotine products on behalf of persons under 18 and adds the new section 11 offence of purchasing vaping or nicotine products on behalf of under 18s. For councils, the operational point is straightforward. Authorisation forms, legal guidance and staff training for test purchase and enforcement work will need to refer to the new offences from late October, especially where cases involve proxy purchasing or sales to children.
The second phase begins on 1 January 2027. On that date, the Order replaces the existing offence of selling tobacco and related products to a person under 18 with the new section 1 offence of selling tobacco and related products to a person born on or after 1 January 2009. It also replaces the corresponding proxy purchasing offence. From the same date, the relevant offence becomes purchasing tobacco and related products on behalf of a person born on or after 1 January 2009, reflecting the birth-date based framework created by the 2026 Act.
This is a technical change with practical consequences. The enforcement question for tobacco cases will no longer be framed only around whether a purchaser is under 18. From 1 January 2027, councils and retailers will also need to work with the birth-date test set out in the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, and surveillance approvals will need to track that wording exactly. The explanatory note makes clear that the amendment also removes offences repealed by the 2026 Act and inserts the relevant replacement offences. That should reduce the risk of mismatch between the main tobacco legislation and the investigatory powers regime used in local enforcement.
Although the Order formally extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the explanatory note says the amended offence list reflects the fact that article 7A of the 2010 Order applies only to individuals holding positions in councils in England and Wales. The practical audience is therefore local authority enforcement and legal teams in those jurisdictions. The Department of Health and Social Care has also said that no separate full impact assessment has been produced for this instrument because no, or no significant, added effect on the private or voluntary sectors is expected beyond the assessment already prepared for the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. For businesses, the main compliance burden still sits in the parent Act; for councils, the immediate task is updating approval processes before 29 October 2026 and again before 1 January 2027.