Importing and exporting vaping products
What you must do if you import or export vaping products.
Imports
You must account for Vaping Products Duty at import unless the goods immediately enter duty suspension (for example, an approved excise or customs warehouse).
Products released for UK consumption on or after 1 October 2026 must be stamped in accordance with Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme rules before release. Where stamping is arranged overseas, an approved UK representative must purchase and manage the stamps.
If goods enter duty suspension at the border, you must maintain movement or warehouse records. You must also:
- align your customs declaration with excise treatment
- declare the correct tariff code and provide accurate product descriptors (including net liquid volume in litres)
- keep bills of lading, invoices, packing lists and measurement evidence
Exports
If duty has not been paid (goods held under duty suspension), you can export without paying UK Vaping Products Duty. You must keep export evidence (for example the Customs Declaration Service declaration, transport documents) and warehouse or movement records.
If duty has already been paid (duty‑paid stock), you may be eligible to claim drawback of UK excise duty provided statutory conditions are met.
Vaping duty stamps are required for products released for consumption in the UK. Goods intended solely for export should not be released for UK consumption and therefore should not be stamped.
If you intend to export duty-paid stamped stock, you must destroy the affixed duty stamps, and record this event on the duty stamps system, before exporting the goods.
Northern Ireland
Vaping Products Duty applies across the UK, including in Northern Ireland.
Movements of excise goods between Northern Ireland and the EU are monitored using the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS). Find out more information on how to use EMCS.
Imports into Northern Ireland and stamping
For commercial movements arriving in Northern Ireland from the EU, vaping products must be treated as duty-suspended and consigned to an approved excise warehouse or an approved manufacturer’s premises before release for consumption. They must be stamped before release.
An electronic administrative document (eAD) must be created on EMCS by the approved business receiving the goods. This must be in place at the time the vaping products enter Northern Ireland. Once the goods are received, the receiving business must complete the normal EMCS receipt or closure steps for duty-suspended movements.
Vaping Products entering Northern Ireland from outside of the EU follow the same rules as imports into Great Britain. Vaping Products Duty must be paid upon arrival unless the goods are immediately placed into a duty suspension arrangement. If you want to pay the duty on arrival, the vaping products must have duty stamps affixed before they arrive in the UK.
Movements from elsewhere in the UK should follow the same rules as any other domestic movement.
Drawback
Drawback is a refund of UK excise duty for eligible goods that have not been and will not be consumed in the UK (for example, exported or destroyed).
The minimum claim value is £500. The event causing drawback must occur within 3 years of the date UK duty was paid.
You should normally be the original duty payer to claim drawback. If you are not, you must get sufficient evidence of duty payment from the original duty payer.
You must keep records of:
- linking batches
- duty payment
- the export or destruction event
HMRC may reject or reduce claims if records are incomplete or conditions are not met.
Repayments and reliefs
If duty has been over‑declared or over‑paid on a monthly return, apply for repayment or credit in line with excise repayment procedures, supported by measurement and reconciliation evidence.
Where vaping liquids are spoiled or destroyed before release for consumption, no duty is payable but you must keep an appropriate record of this event in your production records.
Where goods are spoiled after release for consumption and returned to you, as the original manufacturer, for destruction, relief may be available. Keep evidence of this, for example:
- incident reports
- disposal or destruction certificates
- volume reconciliations
You must not claim both spoilt goods relief and excise drawback on the same goods. Where relief or offset is available in your returns, drawback is not normally appropriate.