ALL cigarettes and tobacco must be sold in plain olive green packages from May 2017, following the introduction of new laws.

The products can no longer be sold in bright, glitzy packs and will now have large graphic images, warning people about the health effects of smoking. The new laws came into effect in May 2016, but Wee County shops were given a one-year transitional period to sell old stock.

Other changes mean that packs of 10 cigarettes which are particularly appealing to young people with limited spending power, will no longer be sold. Hand rolling tobacco will also only be sold in a minimum of 30 gram packets.

The new laws will also require combined picture and text health warning to cover 65 per cent of the front and back of cigarette packs as well as roll-your own tobacco packages. Promotional or misleading descriptions on packaging, including ‘light’ ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ will also be banned. Menthol cigarettes are also set to be phased out with it being completely prohibited from May 2020. Some flavoured cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco with appealing flavours including fruit and chocolate will also be banned.

For the first time, certain safety and quality requirements have been introduced for e-cigarettes containing nicotine.

From April 1 traders were required to register to sell Nicotine Vapour Products (NVP) or tobacco.

Traders currently registered to sell tobacco but also selling NVP must update their registration to include NVP.

It is already a criminal offence to sell tobacco to a person under the age of 18, and it will now also be illegal to sell NVP to under 18s.

Traders selling tobacco and/or NVP are required to have an age verification policy in operation, and it will be a criminal offence not to have this in place.

Clackmannanshire Trading Standards Service can offer advice about the implementation of this policy and can be contacted by email tradingstandards@clacks.gov.uk or by phoning 01786 404040.