FEATURE
WE ARE ENTERING THE AGE OF ENFORCEMENT:
ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES, LIQUIDS, TPD AND GPSR 2005
By Damien Bové, Chief Regulatory Officer
ADACT Medical, The TPD experts
After three years of expenditure and effort it is a frequently heard
lament that, ‘we have spent all this money on compliance, but where
is the enforcement?’ Well those days are certainly numbered.
The MHRA and Trading Standards are now bringing enforcement
to bear, and we are seeing the effect in the industry.
I have lots of details about this below, but firstly, let’s look at the recent
report of an initiative carried out by Trading Standards UK and assess
the levels of non-compliant products out in the market.
RAPID REVIEW OF NICOTINE INHALING PRODUCT
COMPLIANCE WITH THE TOBACCO PRODUCT AND RELATED
PRODUCTS REGULATIONS: 2017
KEY TABLES FROM THE TRADING STANDARDS REPORT:
Work was carried out to assess the level on non-compliance in
the electronic cigarette market in Europe. There are key points to
consider for the moment.
Inspectors carried out 319 visits to retailers across the UK (with an
agreed data sharing protocol with the MHRA) to inspect stock for
compliance.
A total of 617 devices were assessed. Of these, 76 percent were
compliant and 24 percent non-compliant. A total of 146 products
were non-compliant. Most of the non-compliant products had multiple
reasons for failing, rather than a single labelling issue. As a result, in
most cases retailers were advised to stop selling the products.
No manufacturers have yet been instructed to stop production,
although that may come as the MHRA does follow-up work. For
refill containers, 1,488 were purchased and 76 percent were found
to be compliant while 24 percent were non-compliant. Again, most
were non-compliant for multiple reasons. Of these, 248 were referred
to the MHRA. A total of 175 were later found to be compliant and 109
non-compliant, and thus warranted further investigation.
Interestingly, most of the non-compliant purchases came from non-
specialist retailers, indicating that some vape shops out there need
to get their houses-in-order.
LIQUID FAILINGS
DEVICE FAILINGS
So overall, the wider industry is moving towards complia nce. Some
would say this is far too late, given how long we have been in the
age of TPD. I share these concerns, with 24 percent of products
being found to be non-compliant in initial investigations.
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