On this page
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Access to vaping goods
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Information for pharmacists
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Supply of vaping goods to minors
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Information for prescribers
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Smoking cessation guidance for health practitioners
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Information for wholesalers
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eCigarette Compliance Program
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Access to vaping goods
What is a vape?
Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are electronic devices used to inhale a liquid (vaping substance) in the form of vapour. This liquid usually contains nicotine.
Vaping goods include vaping substances, vaping accessories, and vaping devices.
Who can legally sell vapes in NSW?
In NSW, nicotine-containing and zero-nicotine vape goods can only be purchased from pharmacies. It is illegal for tobacconists, vape shops, and convenience store retailers to sell any type of vaping good, regardless of its nicotine content.
Why are there restrictions on vapes?
Restrictions were introduced to prevent youth and young adults from taking up vaping. However, therapeutic vapes remain accessible for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence under appropriate healthcare guidance. Vaping goods are restricted to these specific medical purposes and cannot be supplied for recreational use.
How can vaping goods be legally accessed?
From 1 October 2024, vapes with a nicotine concentration of 20mg/mL or less will be available from Australian pharmacies to patients 18 years of age or older without a prescription. A pharmacist must evaluate the patient's need and determine if it is clinically appropriate before supplying the good.
Vapes for patients under 18 years and/or with a nicotine concentration of more than 20 mg/mL will require a prescription from a medical or nurse practitioner.
What vaping goods are available?
Vaping goods sold by pharmacies must comply with certain requirements. It is illegal for a pharmacy to supply a non-compliant vaping good.
Vaping goods cannot contain nicotine concentrations higher than 100mg/mL, and are only allowed to have the flavours, mint, tobacco, or menthol. There are also strict requirements on the packaging and labelling of vaping goods.
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Information for pharmacists
All vaping goods, irrespective of the nicotine content, are unregistered products. Pharmacists can only supply or dispense unregistered therapeutic vaping goods via the TGA Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme or Special Access Scheme (SAS).
Pharmacists can search the TGA's SAS and AP Online System Information to:
- verify that a prescription has been issued under the SAS or AP scheme
- submit a notification under the TGA SAS Category C when issuing a Schedule 3 vaping good, or on behalf of a prescriber when dispensing a Schedule 4 vaping good.
A SAS or AP approval is not required to supply an unapproved therapeutic vaping device. However, these devices can only be supplied for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence.
For more information, see
SAS and AP Online System Information and
Prescribe an unapproved therapeutic good (health practitioners).
Obtaining vaping goods
Only vaping goods listed on the
TGA List of notified vapes can be supplied or dispensed to a person. These vaping goods comply with applicable standards for supply in Australia for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence. These standards include the TGA's Therapeutic Goods Order no. 110, or in the case of devices with the TGA Essential Principles, or where applicable, the Therapeutic Goods (Medical Device Standard - Therapeutic Vaping Devices) Order 2023 (MDSO).
Pharmacists may obtain unregistered vaping goods prior to receiving a prescription or request from a patient.
Vaping goods may be obtained:
- from Australian sponsors holding an Australian licence to supply vaping goods by wholesale,
- licensed pharmaceutical wholesalers,
- directly from overseas suppliers. In this case you are likely to be considered the Australian sponsor of these products and you must meet all import requirements and compliance responsibilities.
More information is available on the TGA's Vapes: information for sponsors, importers, and manufacturers.
Only finished products are legally permitted to be dispensed. Pharmacists cannot dispense component ingredients for patients to mix themselves.
Storage of vaping goods
Vaping goods must be stored in a room or enclosure to which the public does not have access, and apart from food. They also must not be used or disposed of in any place or in any manner likely to constitute a risk to the public.
All vaping goods must be supplied in containers with a child-resistant closure as required under the
Poisons Standard (the SUSMP). Further information on packaging requirements of vaping goods refer to the
TGA's Therapeutic Goods Order 110 (TGO 110).
The advertising of vapes is prohibited except in very limited circumstances. See the
TGA website for more information.
Schedule 3 supply
Vaping goods can be supplied by a pharmacist as a Schedule 3 medicine when the following requirements are met:
- supply is for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence
- supply is to persons aged 18 years or over. Pharmacists are required to request and sight evidence of the patient's identity and age
- the quantity supplied does not exceed one month supply and is only supplied to the patient once in a month
- the nicotine concentration of the product does not exceed 20 mg/mL
- advice is provided on:
- appropriate dose and frequency depending on age, weight, and the severity of the condition
- length of treatment, suitable titration, and interactions with other medicines
- alternative smoking cessation or nicotine dependence supports and therapies
- the contact details about smoking cessation support services are provided to the patient.
Pharmacists should ensure that all other requirements relating to Schedule 3 medicines are met, including the requirement for the pharmacist to personally hand out the product.
- is an administrative instrument made under the current Poisons Standard and has the effect of exempting certain vaping goods from the requirement to be labelled with the signal words for Schedule 3 medicines (“Pharmacist Only Medicine”)
- ensures that certain vaping goods labelled by a sponsor in accordance with the labelling requirements for Schedule 4 medicines may be supplied by pharmacists under the new Schedule 3 entry for nicotine introduced by the recent Therapeutic Goods and Other Legislation Amendment (Vaping Reforms) Act 2024
- applies until 30 September 2025 unless revoked earlier.
Schedule 4 supply
On the presentation of a valid prescription, a pharmacist may supply a vaping good as a Schedule 4 medicine, provided that the:
- therapeutic indication for these products is for smoking cessation or nicotine dependence
- strength of the product does not exceed 100mg/mL
- product is supplied in a quantity and for a purpose as per the recognised therapeutic standard of what is appropriate in the circumstances
- product is labelled as a dispensed medicine, and a record of the supply is made.
Compounding of vaping goods
A compounded medicine can be prepared only in circumstances when a similar commercially available finished product medicine is unavailable, or clinically unsuitable for that patient.
A vaping good may be extemporaneously compounded only when:
- a prescription has been issued for an individual patient with a TGA approval under the SAS or AP scheme.
- the pharmacist has been granted Section
41RCconsent from the TGA .
- the compounded product complies with all requirements of the
TGA Therapeutic Goods Order 110 (TGO 110)
- the pharmacist meets the obligations as a sponsor of the product (a pharmacist will be considered the product sponsor if they extemporaneously compound a product).
All compounding must comply with the
Pharmacy Board of Australia Guidelines on compounding of medicines.
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Supply of vaping goods to minors
Pharmacists can only dispense therapeutic vaping goods to persons under 18 years old when they are prescribed by a medical or nurse practitioner and are approved under the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme or Special Access Scheme (SAS) pathways.
Prescribers must obtain approval via the following pathways:
- For patients aged 16 years of age and over, use the TGA AP or SAS Category B or Category C pathway.
- For patients aged 15 years and younger, use the TGA AP or SAS Category B pathway.
In all circumstances, the indication must be for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence.
For more information, please refer to the
NSW Health Guide to Support Young People to Quit E-Cigarettes.
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Information for Prescribers
From 1 October 2024, therapeutic vapes with a nicotine concentration of 20mg/mL or less will be available in pharmacies to patients 18 years of age or older
without a prescription. To supply a vaping good to a patient without a prescription, a pharmacist must be satisfied that the need is clinically appropriate and conditions as listed above under
Schedule 3 supply are met.
All therapeutic vapes containing a nicotine concentration greater than 20mg/mL or more, or for patients under 18 years old, must be supplied on a prescription by a medical or nurse practitioner. To prescribe to patients under 18 years old refer to
Supply of vaping goods to minors on this page.
As with all scheduled medicines, the choice of whether to prescribe is up to the prescriber. Scheduled medicines must not be prescribed merely because a patient requests them, nor in a quantity or for a purpose that does not accord with the recognised therapeutic standard for the medicine.
All vaping goods, irrespective of their nicotine content, are unregistered products. To prescribe a therapeutic vaping substance, a prescriber must apply via the TGA Authorised Prescriber (AP)scheme or Special Access Scheme (SAS) pathways. For more information and access to these pathways, see
SAS and AP Online System Information and
Prescribe an unapproved therapeutic good (health practitioners).
A SAS or AP approval is not required to supply an unapproved therapeutic vaping device. However, these devices can only be supplied for smoking cessation or the management of nicotine dependence.
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Smoking cessation guidance for health professionals
Information and guidance for smoking cessation can be found at:
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Information for wholesalers
Wholesalers of nicotine vaping goods must hold a licence to supply by wholesale a restricted substance for therapeutic use. See
Licences and authorisations.
Wholesalers are required to provide supply records to the Pharmaceutical Services Unit in February and August each year.
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eCigarette Compiance Program
The eCigarette Compliance Program will monitor and support the regulatory compliance of stakeholders involved in the lawful supply of vaping good in NSW.
For updates on pharmacy visits see eCigarette compliance program.
For further information please email the eCigarette compliance team at MOH-PharmaceuticalServices@health.nsw.gov.au
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