Smokers and businesses in West Dunbartonshire are being reminded of new laws to be introduced next month which mean that all tobacco and cigarettes must now be sold in plain, green packaging.

The laws on the removal of brightly-coloured tobacco brands from shop shelves and the introduction of graphic images to packaging to warn users of the effects of smoking were introduced in May last year, but shops were given a transitional one-year period to sell stock.

The new legislation now means that 65 per cent of the packet must be taken up by the combined picture and text health warning and ten cigarette packs - often seen as popular among younger and low-income smokers - are also to be removed from sale.

Meanwhile, shops selling e-cigarettes will also be required to register themselves as sellers of 'Nicotine Vapour Products', with traders currently selling both tobacco and e-cigarettes also required to register as NVP sellers via http://www.tobaccoregisterscotland.org/.

It has been illegal to sell NVP to under 18s, alongside the similar age restrictions for tobacco, but the law is to be stiffened even further to make it a criminal offence for NVP providers not to have an established age verification policy in place.

For more information of the new changes and advice over implementing it, West Dunbartonshire Trading Standards can be contacted by email at tradingstandards@west-dunbarton.gov.uk