Tobacco Manufacturing UK-wide

Which tobacco manufacturing regulations apply to your business

Manufacturing tobacco products carries a heavy, product-specific regulatory load on top of the usual factory duties: standardised packaging, product standards and ingredient reporting, excise duty and the track-and-trace system.

Guide summary

Run a safe factory and follow tobacco-specific rules on packaging, ingredients, excise duty, and track-and-trace. Use the compliance checklist before you start production. Breaching health and safety law can lead to unlimited fines or up to 2 years in prison.

  • Follow health and safety rules for tobacco factories
  • Use standardised (plain) packaging for all tobacco products
  • Report ingredients to the medicines regulator (MHRA)
  • Pay excise duty and get HMRC manufacturer approval
  • Set up a track-and-trace system for your supply chain
  • Complete the tobacco manufacturer compliance checklist before production
  • Health and safety breaches can mean unlimited fines and up to 2 years in prison
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Manufacturing tobacco products — cigarettes, cigars, hand-rolling and pipe tobacco, and the processing of raw leaf — is one of the most heavily regulated manufacturing activities in the UK. Two things run in parallel. First, like any factory you must keep your people safe around machinery, tobacco dust and the casing and flavouring chemicals you use, and meet your duties as an employer. Second, the product itself is tightly controlled: standardised ("plain") packaging, product standards and ingredient reporting, excise duty, and a supply-chain track-and-trace system.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates workplace safety in Great Britain and HSENI in Northern Ireland. The tobacco-specific rules are overseen by the MHRA, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), Trading Standards and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

What you need to do

  1. 1

    Run a safe factory and employ people

    Whatever you make, start with the universal spine. Follow "Set up and run a safe tobacco factory" for your health and safety, COSHH controls on tobacco dust and casing chemicals, work equipment, manual handling, fire safety, insurance, equality and data protection duties.

  2. 2

    Meet your tobacco product, duty and track-and-trace obligations

    The tobacco-specific regime: standardised packaging, product standards and ingredient reporting (the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, with MHRA notification for e-cigarettes), the general product safety baseline, excise duty and HMRC manufacturer approval, and the track-and-trace system. Follow "Meet your tobacco product, duty and track-and-trace obligations".

  3. 3

    Confirm you have covered everything

    Finish with the tobacco manufacturer compliance checklist to confirm your obligations are met before a production run.

Official sources

Authoritative starting points for tobacco manufacturing.