The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Age Verification Defence to Underage Sales) (England and Wales) Regulations 2026

Other than creating a new licensing scheme for selling tobacco in England and Wales (for which many more further details are awaited) the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 creates a rolling age‑of‑sale ban in which it effectively becomes illegal for retailers to sell tobacco to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. This means affected age groups will never legally be able to purchase tobacco products, with the restriction increasing year by year. Vaping and nicotine products are treated differently in that these cannot be purchased by those under 18 but there will be no rolling age‑of‑sale ban as with tobacco.

 The Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 (Age Verification Defence to Underage Sales) (England and Wales) Regulations 2026 have now been laid before Parliament with a view to them coming into force on 1^st January 2027 (and as the name suggests, apply to England and Wales only). These outline the required steps for retailers to take to establish age and include:

• Inspecting a physical identity document proving the requisite age (that contains a photo, date of birth and either a holographic mark or ultraviolet feature) and which would appear to a reasonable person to not have been altered; or
• The customer making available digital ID with means to verify it and the Seller using those means to verify it appropriately.

In effect, for digital ID a visual inspection is not sufficient and the ID must be verified by a digital verification service (DVS) that is certified and listed on the DVS register as providing an age verification service at the required level of confidence (in this case medium level).

Those familiar with alcohol licensing will see the similarities with verifying age for purchasing alcohol and particularly in respect of digital ID will note the recent Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2026 and changes to the Licensing Act 2003 Guidance which also deal with acceptable forms of digital ID in the same manner. As with alcohol licensing, there is no requirement for Retailers to accept digital ID but as its prevalence will likely increase then it is something that the industry will need to familiarise itself with over time.