The ACT Government will move to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and restrict their promotion.

There are currently no rules governing the sale of e-cigarettes across Canberra, and Health Minister Simon Corbell said that was concerning.

"What that means of course is that e-cigarettes are available to be used by children," he said.

"Some products are being sold that contain nicotine even though they claim they do not and e-cigarettes are potentially being used to re-normalise smoking behaviour."

The changes would restrict the sale of e-cigarettes to adults, heavily restrict advertisements and in-store displays, and ban sales by vending machine.

The proposal brings the ACT into line with NSW and Queensland and levels the restrictions with those placed on tobacco.

Mr Corbell said now is the time to act.

"There is no doubt that e-cigarettes have become much more prevalent and available than they were even five years ago," he said.

"It's appropriate that we adopt a regulatory approach that sees e-cigarettes as the same as cigarettes in many respects, and they should be regulated in a consistent fashion."

The move comes after public consultation late last year which fielded submissions from residents, business owners and public health organisations.

Mr Corbell said while there were a range of views in the community, he believed the changes would be met with a positive response.

"The Government [recognises] that for some smokers, an e-cigarette is a better choice, but that it should not be promoted openly in a way that may normalise smoking behaviour," he said.

"The ACT has one of the lowest levels of smoking of any state or territory. We want to continue that decline and reduce the impact of tobacco on our community."

'It just shows that the Government doesn't really understand'

The legislation will be introduced to the ACT's Legislative Assembly next year.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said he was broadly open to the ACT Government's proposal, particularly as it bought the ACT into line with NSW regulations.

"In principle, what the Government's proposing seems sensible," he said.

"We want to see a consistency between jurisdictions ... we don't want a different set of rules for e-cigarettes in Queanbeyan than we would in Canberra.

"I think regulating them in a similar fashion to tobacco products makes sense."

But Christopher Franzi, who owns a "vape cafe" selling e-cigarettes in Gungahlin, disagreed.

Mr Franzi said he was not opposed to the regulation of e-cigarette's per se, but putting them in the same basket as tobacco cigarettes was unfair.

"A tobacco product is something that has tobacco in it," he said.

"It's not a tobacco product, it should be under its own legislation ... it just shows that the Government doesn't really understand what an electronic cigarette is."

Mr Franzi said Government consultation on the issue had been lacking, and there had been no face-to-face communication about proposed legislation

"They gave us the opportunity to write in a submission, which was open to the public ... it would have been nice if they'd at least maybe taken five minutes to come down and have a chat with us about it," he said.

"Get to the know the product properly, and get to know the current research around it as well."

He said there was a large body of research suggesting e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes.