On April 20th, following an interview with the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), 2FIRSTS contacted another UK electronic cigarette industry association, the Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA), for their perspective on the issue of independent laboratories revealing that electronic cigarette oil exceeds safety limits. IBVTA CEO Gillian Golden and board member Liam Humberstone responded to our inquiry via email.
Legal merchants will lose confidence in the e-cigarette industry.
The news of "e-cigarette oil exceeding standards" was presented to 2FIRSTS. IBVTA responded to an email stating that it is not unusual to find illegal e-cigarette products in the UK.
These products have been facing issues in the UK market for some time now. IBVTA has been working with authorities to address this issue and will continue to do so to protect the legitimate e-cigarette industry in the UK.
At the same time, she believes that the frequent occurrence of such phenomena has led to a loss of confidence in the e-cigarette industry amongst consumers and legitimate businesses.
The discovery of any illegal products in the UK market has a significant impact on both consumers and legitimate retailers, leading to a loss of confidence in our industry.
Businesses that are willing to sell non-compliant imported products are unlikely to check the age of their consumers, and the UK media has also linked e-cigarette products to increased use among teenagers.
Support from China is needed.
Julian believes that to reduce similar incidents from happening, the issue needs to be addressed at the source of electronic cigarette manufacturing and supply.
The efforts of the UK government to reduce illegal sales can only lag behind the changes in the market, which means that any actions that can be taken in the manufacturing and supply chain will have a more direct impact.
She said that the support of Chinese manufacturers is desperately needed to prevent e-cigarettes being filled with excessive nicotine and being mislabeled before they hit the market. Many of these products are clearly designed to attract underage users.
Julian believes that illegally imported products into the UK do pose a risk to the sales of legitimate products.
We have seen in recent weeks in media reporting calls for further restrictions on electronic cigarette products.
She believes that electronic cigarette manufacturers and brand owners from China do have a chance to succeed in the UK market, provided that they are willing to demonstrate their efforts to comply with UK market requirements and address the issue of illegal electronic cigarette imports to the UK.
Welcome Government's Law Enforcement Regulation.
Finally, Gillian expressed her appreciation for the recent actions of the UK Government. Earlier, the UK's Health Secretary had announced the formation of a "Illegal E-cigarette Enforcement Team" with a budget of 3 million pounds, to be led by UK trade standard officials.
Once the plan is implemented and operational, we should expect an increase in enforcement actions against illegal businesses. We also anticipate an increase in the seizure of illegal products at the UK border.
In response to the government's announcement of soliciting suggestions to address the issue of youth smoking, Julian of IBVTA stated that they will respond at an appropriate time.
Read more related articles:
UK Prime Minister pledges crackdown on illegal e-cigarette sales; slams adverts targeting minors.
2. The UKVIA responded to 2FIRSTS by stating that they will not tolerate any e-liquid product exceeding standard levels and have submitted a regulatory plan to the parliament. 3. The Guardian reports that 73% of electronic cigarette e-liquids in the UK have exceeded standard nicotine levels, with 8 zero-nicotine products being found to contain nicotine in tests.
The United Kingdom will allocate £3 million to establish a law enforcement group with the aim of shutting down stores that sell e-cigarettes to minors.
The UK is planning to crack down on illegal electronic cigarettes. Industry associations have announced that they will provide the necessary resources to support the effort.
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