Recently, a survey report released by the UK Trading Standards has attracted widespread attention: among the “nicotine-free e-cigarettes” sampled, 13% of the actual nicotine content does not match the label. This result not only exposes the problem of false propaganda and harm to consumer health of some e-cigarette brands, but also highlights the urgency of the industry’s compliance process. In this context, compliant brands represented by VEEHOO are redefining industry benchmarks through strict self-regulation and in-depth support for laws and regulations.
Survey data from the UK Trading Standards Bureau show that while the e-cigarette market has grown rapidly in the past two years, some manufacturers have used “nicotine-free” as a gimmick to mislead consumers in pursuit of profits, but actually secretly added nicotine. This behavior not only violates the UK Consumer Protection Act and the Nicotine Inhalation Products (Sales License) Regulations, but also poses health risks to sensitive groups such as teenagers and pregnant women. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the United Kingdom has clearly required that all nicotine-containing e-cigarette products must go through a strict declaration procedure, but the contradiction between lagging supervision and the rapid expansion of the market still allows inferior products to take advantage.
Faced with the industry’s trust crisis, VEEHOO chose “transparency and compliance” as its core strategy and built a regulatory system that is higher than industry standards:
VEEHOO discloses nicotine test reports in its supply chain, and all “nicotine-free” products use independent sealed production lines to avoid cross-contamination. Each batch of products is tested by a third-party laboratory using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to ensure that the nicotine content is lower than the international “zero nicotine” threshold of 0.1mg/mL.
As one of the first e-cigarette brands to pass the UKCA (UK Conformity Assessment) certification, VEEHOO proactively submitted its products to the UK National Laboratory (LGC Group) for full ingredient analysis and printed a traceable QR code on the packaging. Consumers can scan the code to view complete information including nicotine test results, production date and batch.
VEEHOO not only strictly abides by the UK General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), but also joins industry associations to promote the standardization of e-cigarette packaging warnings, such as adding “double anti-counterfeiting labels” and “minors are prohibited from purchasing” eye-catching signs on “nicotine-free” products. In 2023, the “UK Disposable E-cigarette Environmental Protection and Ingredient Disclosure Guidelines” drafted by it was included in the industry white paper to provide practical reference for policy making.
VEEHOO’s practice has proved that compliance is not a cost burden, but the cornerstone of the brand’s long-term value. According to data from market research firm ECigIntelligence, in the fourth quarter of 2023, VEEHOO’s share of the UK e-cigarette market increased by 27% year-on-year, and its user repurchase rate was as high as 68%, far higher than the industry average of 35%. This is inseparable from the consumer trust brought by its “zero nicotine commitment”.
At the same time, VEEHOO reduces compliance costs through technological investment-its self-developed “intelligent filling system” reduces the risk of nicotine mis-addition to 0.001%, and uses blockchain technology to achieve full-process data storage from raw materials to retail terminals. This “technology-driven compliance” model is being emulated by more and more small and medium-sized brands in the UK.
The British government recently announced that it will strengthen surprise inspections on e-cigarette products and plans to impose a fine of up to 20,000 pounds per time on brands that violate nicotine content in 2024. In this context, VEEHOO’s case points the way for the industry: only by implanting compliance awareness into the entire life cycle of the product and actively embracing supervision can we gain dual recognition from consumers and policies.
As VEEHOO’s CEO said at a recent industry summit: “The essence of e-cigarettes is a tool to replace cigarettes, not a speculative product in the gray area of the law. We call on our peers to stop “compliance arbitrage” and jointly maintain the sustainable development of the industry.” This compliance revolution led by VEEHOO may become a key turning point for the e-cigarette industry to mature.
Tags: nicotine-free e-cigarettes, consumer protection law, minors are prohibited from purchasing, veehoo vape
