How to Check a Vaping Product Is Legal in NZ: Notification, Labels and the Notified Products Register

Every vaping device, pod, coil and e-liquid sold in New Zealand must be notified to the Vaping Regulatory Authority, part of the Ministry of Health, before it can be sold. Notification is the mechanism that enforces NZ's product safety rules. This guide explains how the system works and how to check a product yourself. It is current as of September 2026.

What 'notified' means

A manufacturer or importer must submit a product notification for each product it intends to sell, confirming the product meets the safety and packaging requirements in the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Regulations 2021. There is a fee per product, renewed every 12 months, and a notification must be withdrawn and resubmitted if the product changes significantly, for example a new ingredient or nicotine concentration. The Ministry can suspend or cancel a notification, issue public warnings, or recall a product.

Retailers do not notify products; the manufacturer or importer does. A retailer's responsibility is to sell only products that are currently notified. All products Vapourium sells, including the e-liquids we manufacture, are notified.

How to look a product up

  1. Go to the Ministry of Health's Notified Products Register (linked from the Ministry's "Product notifications" page, on the HARP system).
  2. Search by brand or product name.
  3. Check the product type (freebase nicotine vaping substance, nicotine salts vaping substance, vaping device, or kit), the notifier, and that the notification is current.

Different bottle sizes and strengths of the same product are covered by one notification, so you will not see every variant listed separately.

What a compliant NZ e-liquid label shows

  • Nicotine concentration in mg/mL. A percentage on its own is not permitted. Nicotine salt products may show both the salt concentration and the actual nicotine concentration; see our guide to reading nicotine strength.
  • A health warning in English and te reo Māori occupying a large, fixed proportion of the front of the pack, in black text on a white background.
  • A generic flavour name such as "Strawberry" or "Mint". Creative or branded flavour names have not been allowed since 2024.
  • Ingredients, batch identification and the notifier's details.
  • Child-resistant packaging on nicotine e-liquid containers.

What a compliant NZ device has

  • It is rechargeable and refillable or re-poddable. Disposable devices that cannot be recharged or refilled have been banned since 17 June 2025.
  • A child safety mechanism that cannot be permanently switched off by the user, required on reusable devices since October 2024. In practice this is a lock that needs two simultaneous or five sequential actions to activate the device.
  • Automatic cut-off after a period of continuous activation.
  • A removable battery is no longer required. That requirement was removed from 1 September 2025, so both sealed-battery and removable-battery devices are compliant.

Nicotine limits

Freebase nicotine e-liquid is limited to 20 mg/mL. Nicotine salt e-liquid in reusable devices is limited to 28.5 mg/mL of nicotine, which corresponds to 50 mg/mL of nicotine salt. Anything labelled above these figures is not compliant.

Warning signs of a non-compliant product

  • A single-use device with no charging port or replaceable pod.
  • A strength shown only as a percentage, or a strength above the limits.
  • Branded flavour names, cartoon characters or confectionery-style packaging.
  • No te reo Māori on the warning, or no warning at all.
  • Sold by a retailer that is not an approved specialist vape retailer or a notified general retailer, or sold via social media, marketplaces or private sellers.
  • A nicotine product sold to someone under 18, or without age verification online.

Who can sell vaping products

There are two kinds of retailer. General retailers such as dairies, petrol stations and supermarkets must notify the Ministry that they sell vaping products and may sell only tobacco, menthol and mint flavours. Specialist vape retailers must be approved by the Vaping Regulatory Authority, may sell the full flavour range, and need separate approval to sell online. Approved specialist vape retailers are listed on the Ministry's HARP database. Vapourium is an approved specialist vape retailer with approved premises in Dunedin and Timaru and an approved website.

Related reading

Sources: Ministry of Health, Product notifications for manufacturers and importers; About the Smokefree Act; Recent changes to Smokefree laws (updated July 2025); Proposed regulation to clarify allowable nicotine concentration (June 2023).

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