133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
11 November 2025
Amy Ferguson
By email: [FYI request #32524 email]
Ref:
H2025073824
Tēnā koe Amy
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) to the Ministry of
Health – Manatū Hauora (the Ministry) on 8 October 2025 for information regarding vaping
product testing and regulatory enforcement. Please find below a response to each of your
questions in turn.
“Under the Official Information Act 1982, I respectfully request the following information
regarding vaping product testing and regulatory enforcement in New Zealand. ### 1. Vape Product Testing (2020–2025) Please provide a list of all vaping products that have been chemically tested by or on
behalf of the Ministry of Health (or contracted parties such as ESR) between January
2020 and October 2025 to verify **nicotine concentration and label accuracy**. For each
product tested, please include: - Product name / brand
- Notified Product ID or internal reference (if applicable)
- Label ed nicotine concentration (mg/mL)
- Actual nicotine concentration found
- Whether the product passed or failed compliance thresholds
- Whether any follow-up action (e.g. product recall, warning, or prohibition) was taken
On 24 October 2025, the Ministry contacted you in accordance with section 18B to of the Act,
as your request was for a very large volume of information and may be refused under section
18(f) as it could not be made available without substantial col ation or research. As we have not
heard back from you, the Ministry has decided to respond to your request providing non-
compliant products from 2024 onwards only.
The Ministry remains willing and open to working with you on new a refined request.
Between January 2020 and October 2025, a total of 440 vaping products were tested. Out of
those, 227 were determined to be non-compliant.
Document one provides information relating to non-compliant products tested between April
2024 to May 2025.
Please note there are two compliance thresholds for nicotine testing for vaping products:
1. If the vape contains nicotine concentration exceeding 31.85 mg/mL (this incorporates
a margin of error related to testing, on top of the legislative limit of 28.5mg/mL).
2. Whether the relative difference between the tested nicotine concentration and what
was labelled exceeds 10%.
### 2. Internal Assessments or Concerns Please provide any internal memos, summary documents, audit reports, or briefing
papers from 2020–2025 discussing: - Prevalence of nicotine mislabelling in vape liquids sold in New Zealand
- Health or regulatory risks associated with this issue
- Any action plans, enforcement strategies, or trend analysis
The Ministry has identified three documents within scope of this question. All documents are
itemised in Appendix 1 and copies of the documents are enclosed. Where information is
withheld under section 9 of the Act, I have considered the countervailing public interest in
release in making this decision and consider that it does not outweigh the need to withhold at
this time.
Please find a summary of each document below:
•
Document 2 – A memo from June 2024 which summarises the need to continue testing
vaping products and explains the health and regulatory risks associated with non-
compliant vapes identified at the time.
•
Document 3 – A memo from August 2025 which summarises the continuing need to test
vaping products.
•
Document 4 – A table summarising the proportion of tested vaping products by different
nicotine concentration brackets, and a graph showing the distribution of tested vaping
products by different relative concentration brackets.
### 3. Testing Coverage Please confirm:
- The total number of notified vape products in New Zealand as of October 2025
- The total number of those that have undergone nicotine composition testing
- Any relevant metrics on market surveil ance or resource al ocation for this purpose
Between January 2020 and October 2025, a total of 440 vaping products were tested for
nicotine concentration.
As of 31 October 2025, there are 7,421 actively notified vaping products in New Zealand.
From September this year, the Ministry of Health has increased the testing capacity and will
now test the nicotine levels of up to 400 vaping products a year. This compared to a total of 440
products tested to date since January 2023, when the testing programme started.
For your information, the Ministry works with New Zealand Institute for Public Health and
Forensic Science (PHF Science) to test the nicotine concentration in vaping products. In the last
year, the Ministry of Health has invested more in supporting PHF Science to carry out more
frequent and reliable vaping product testing. There continues to be high level of products tested
(47.2%) that either exceed the legal limit for nicotine or are not consistent with nicotine levels
stated on product labelling.
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The Ministry of Health continues to work with vaping product manufacturers and importers to
ensure they understand their legal obligations and withdraw products that are not compliant. A
regularly updated list of prohibited vaping products withdrawn from market is available on the
Ministry of Health website here:
www.health.govt.nz/regulation-legislation/vaping-herbal-
smoking-and-smokeless-tobacco/requirements/prohibited-vaping-products. We encourage people who have concerns about vaping product available for sale to check the
Ministry of Health’s list of withdrawn vaping products. They can also submit a complaint to the
Ministry of Health about a product online:
www.vaping.harp.health.nz/submissions/new. The regulatory framework under the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act
1990 requires vaping product manufacturers and importers to notify the Ministry about their
products and declare they meet all relevant meet safety standards. They are not required to
provide the Ministry with pre-market testing data. The Ministry undertakes routine surveillance
testing of nicotine, propylene glycol, and vegetable glycerine. The Ministry can direct PHF
Science to test other substances if required.
### 4. ESR Test Results (if held) If the Ministry does **not** hold full laboratory results (e.g. raw ESR testing data), please
confirm whether this information is held by ESR, and either: - Transfer this part of the request to ESR under s14 of the OIA, **or**
- Provide contact information or a referral so I can request it directly”
Please refer to question 1.
I trust this information fulfils your request. If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with
us, including this decision, please feel free to contact the OIA Services Team on:
[email address].
Under section 28(3) of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made under this request. The Ombudsman may be contacted by email at:
[email address] or by cal ing 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website at:
www.health.govt.nz/about-ministry/information-releases/responses-official-
information-act-requests
Nāku noa, nā
Jane Chambers
Group Manager, Public Health Policy and Regulation
Public Health Agency | Te Pou Hauora Tūmatanui
Page 3 of 4
Appendix 1: List of documents for release
#
Date
Document details
Decision on release
1
31 October 2025
Non-compliant laboratory testing Released in full.
results - April 2024 to May 2025
2
June 2024
2024 ESR Annual Plan memo
Some information withheld under
section 9(2)(b)(ii) of the Act; to
protect information where the
making available of the
information would be likely
unreasonably to prejudice the
commercial position of the
person who supplied or who is
the subject of the information.
3
August 2025
2025 ESR Annual Plan memo
4
31 October 2025
Prevalence of non-compliant
Released in full.
tests
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