A ban on disposable vapes in Jersey is expected to be in place as soon as April 2025.

With political concern growing over the under-age use of disposable vapes and their impact on the environment, the Environment Minister has announced plans to get them taken off shop shelves within a year.

Government ministers are working together to create legislation by September that is expected to go before the States Assembly for debate the following month.

If agreed, it could be implemented by next spring.

Deputy Steve Luce says the government has written to retailers this week so they have enough time to prepare.

"We had originally suggested a six-month implementation, they suggested 12 months. It's about 10 months from this week that we're indicating to retailers.

"I believe the Assembly will support us in bringing this legislation and it's fair to retailers to have as much time as possible, while at the same time, we bring this into effect just as quickly as we possibly can."

Read: Proposed Ban On Disposable Vapes

The government is also considering restrictions on certain vape flavours and sizes in an attempt to tackle their use by children.

Deputy Luce says he wants to change how they are presented.

"Vaping is certainly preferential to smoking tobacco, [but] it's not preferential to breathing in fresh air.

"Some of the options we are considering will be regulating flavours, regulating size and contents, regulating packaging and presentation and regulating point-of-sale displays and advertising."

Read: Survey opens into how to stop Jersey children vaping

A questionnaire in 2021 asked schoolchildren about their vape habits.  Around 8% - or 1 in 20 - respondents said they were vaping.

More recently, the latest Opinions and Lifestyle Survey report showed half of young adults between 16 to 34 years had experimented with vaping.  Almost a third of them had never smoked cigarettes before.

Deputy Lucy Stephenson, who this week raised concerns about how vapes are being marketed to children in Jersey, has welcomed the government's assurance that is working urgently on addressing the issues:

I welcome the news that @GovJersey are finalising plans for a ban on disposable vapes within 10 months, and work is underway to address advertising & packaging too. We need this asap - this week I learned of a recent case at a local school of year 4&5s caught vaping at play time

— Lucy Stephenson (@LucyStevoJSY) June 11, 2024