News / No concern over vape registrations, trading standards manager says
BUSINESSES in Shetland are complying with tobacco and vape legislation, council trading standards manager David Marsh has assured the public.
It comes in the aftermath of renewed scrutiny over shops selling vape products following a disastrous fire in Glasgow city centre earlier this month.
That has led to a number of “unfortunate headlines across Scotland”, Marsh said, about businesses appearing not to have up to date registrations to sell vapes.
The Courier reported last week that nearly 200 retailers in Dundee needed to update their information on the Scottish Government’s register of tobacco and vape sellers.
It said this was “sparking safety fears” after Glasgow’s serious fire near Central Station.
But Marsh said there was nothing to worry about with businesses having to update their registrations.
Of the 111 businesses listed on the register as being monitored by Shetland Islands Council, just nine are listed as having no “updates required”.
However the Scottish Government says itself that premises with an “updates required” tag are fully registered to sell tobacco and vapes – and just need to update their records to keep them accurate.
Many of the businesses listed are also duplicates, or in some cases have already closed.
Trading standards manager Marsh said there had been some “unfortunate headlines” about the registrations, which had unnecessarily caused concern.
“The register moved to a new provider last year, so businesses just have to check their details to make sure it was up to date,” he said.
“Lots of businesses add it to the pile of admin jobs they have, and then might not get round to it. Virtually every local authority is the same.
“They might not even need to make any changes, it might just be about ticking a box to say ‘yes, I have checked this’.”
The Scottish Government register was supposed to be a tool for trading standards departments across the country to take enforcement action, if needed, Marsh said.
“Some businesses might be registered for tobacco then start selling vapes as well, but didn’t realise they had to amend the registration for that.
“We can’t go on to the register and make that change, so we will tell them what’s wrong and tell them how to get it right.”
Marsh said it was a “fairly trivial admin issue”, and nothing to be concerned about.
He added that they would not chase up businesses to update the information, but would carry out visits to roughly 20 per cent of sellers each year to provide advice and support.
“That’s all about making sure they are complying with the relevant registration, to ensure they are selling proper stuff and not selling to underage young people,” Marsh said.
“Whether or not they have ticked the right box on a form isn’t that important.”
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