Scottish Statutory Instrument 2026/213, the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Consequential, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, was made on 24 June 2026 and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 26 June 2026. Made under sections 169(1)(a) and 172(1) of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026, it is a technical follow-on instrument rather than a stand-alone policy package. The commencement pattern matters. Regulations 2 to 6 start on 29 October 2026, regulations 7 to 9 start later the same day immediately after section 68 and schedule 8 of the 2026 Act, and regulation 10 starts on 1 January 2027. The instrument was signed at St Andrew’s House by Alison Thewliss, authorised to sign on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.
The explanatory note states that the main purpose is to bring older Scottish secondary legislation into line with the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 and the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended. In practical terms, that means widening some existing rules so they also cover herbal smoking products and nicotine products, and replacing older references to ‘nicotine vapour product’ with the updated term ‘vaping product’. That drafting work is more than cosmetic. Enforcement schemes, retailer registration rules and prison rules need their product definitions to match the primary legislation in force on the same date. Without that alignment, there is a risk of inconsistent terminology across Scottish instruments and avoidable uncertainty for retailers, councils and enforcement bodies.
One set of amendments falls on the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011. Regulation 2 removes the old definition of ‘nicotine vapour product’, inserts the current definition of ‘vaping product’ by reference to section 35 of the 2010 Act, and updates rule 36, rule 45 and schedule 1 so that ‘nicotine vapour’ becomes ‘vaping’. The same prison amendment also adds the words ‘or aerosol’ after ‘inhale the vapour’ in rule 36(5). According to the instrument, the effect is to keep prison discipline and privilege provisions operating under the new vocabulary used by the 2026 Act, rather than leaving older wording in place after the wider statutory definitions have moved on.
The Regulations also retitle and broaden several product references in existing retail instruments. In the Sale of Tobacco (Prescribed Documents) (Scotland) Regulations 2013, the heading of regulation 2 is widened so it refers to tobacco and herbal smoking products. In the Sale of Nicotine Vapour Products (Prescribed Documents) (Scotland) Regulations 2017, the corresponding heading is changed from ‘nicotine vapour’ to ‘vaping and nicotine’. A further set of wording changes is made to the Sale of Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products by Persons Under 18 (Scotland) Regulations 2017. According to regulation 5, those provisions are rewritten so they refer more clearly to tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, while also bringing herbal smoking products into the drafting. For retailers, the point is straightforward: staff restrictions and compliance materials can no longer be read as applying only to the narrower categories used in earlier legislation.
Part 3 of the instrument addresses fixed penalties after the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 repealed two offences in the 2010 Act: purchasing tobacco products by a person under 18, and failing to comply with a confiscation request. The explanatory note states that regulation 6 therefore amends the Sale of Tobacco (Registration of Moveable Structures and Fixed Penalty Notices) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 so that there are no longer prescribed fixed penalties for those repealed offences. In legal terms, regulation 6 omits regulation 6 of the 2011 instrument and adjusts regulation 7(1) by removing the words ‘other than sections 5 and 7’. The result is a cleaner fixed-penalty structure that reflects the live offence set, rather than preserving penalty amounts for provisions the 2026 Act has already removed.
The most significant administrative change sits in the retailer registration regime. The explanatory note says section 69 and schedule 9 of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 extend chapter 2 of part 1 of the 2010 Act so that sellers of herbal smoking products and nicotine products join the same registration system that already applies to tobacco and vaping product retailers. To match that expansion, regulations 7 and 8 replace older references to a ‘tobacco or nicotine vapour product’ business with the broader concept of a ‘registrable’ business. The substituted notice set out in the schedule makes the new scope explicit: a registrable business can be a tobacco business, a herbal smoking business, a vaping product business or a nicotine product business. Councils will therefore be working with one wider category when they process applications and, where necessary, seek banning orders from the sheriff.
The instrument also deals carefully with transition. Regulation 9 applies where a tobacco and vaping product banning order made under section 15 of the 2010 Act is already in force before 29 October 2026. In those cases, the reference to a ‘registrable business’ in the 2010 retailer register regulations must still be read broadly enough to catch the earlier order, so an affected person remains under a duty to declare it in a registration application. The saving provision is equally important. Regulation 9 keeps the old form of notice alive for notices relating to existing banning orders, rather than forcing pre-29 October orders into a form created for the post-29 October scheme. That avoids a gap between old orders and new paperwork, and it preserves legal continuity for councils administering the register.
A final amendment takes effect later, on 1 January 2027. Regulation 10 changes the heading of regulation 2 in the 2013 prescribed documents Regulations so that, instead of referring to persons ‘under 18’, it refers to persons ‘born on or after 1 January 2009’. The explanatory note links that change directly to section 52 of the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026. Taken together, the Regulations are technical but operationally important. From 29 October 2026, Scottish public authorities, prison governors, retailers and council registration teams will need their forms, notices, training materials and internal guidance to use the revised product categories and updated statutory language. The policy direction sits in the 2026 Act; this instrument makes sure the supporting machinery in Scotland is legally consistent when those changes begin.