DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – RELX International, a responsible multinational electronic cigarettes company, is participating at the World Vape Show in Dubai to highlight its tireless approach to product quality and ensuring that legal age consumers only experience e-cigarette (e-cig) products that are high quality, safe and accessible. Guided by its operating principles and dedication to the RELX Pledge, which includes the successful Golden Shield Program, RELX is eager to address customer requirements and drive positive change across markets.
The RELX Pledge is a commitment to corporate accountability, centred around protection: the protection of minors, the protection of consumers, and the protection of economic livelihoods. In line with this, the Golden Shield Program was launched in August 2019 to help prevent the production and sale of illicit goods. Since its establishment, it has had a significant impact: 28 successful cases; removed over 550,000 fake products from the market; shutdown 77,000 websites and worked with local authorities and anti-illicit trade organisations including ‘EuroCham’ and ‘React’ to raid factories manufacturing counterfeit products.
As part of the program, RELX engages with e-commerce platforms, shares intelligence with local authorities, trains customs officers and works to ensure strict product quality standards. Genuine RELX products feature authentication mechanisms on the product and packaging, which enables consumers to protect themselves from counterfeit products, which are of inferior quality and potentially hazardous to health [1].
RELX’s 360-degrees approach and exacting standards will be in focus through its participation at the World Vape Show, which takes place from 16-to-18 June in Dubai, at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Robert T Naouss, External Affairs Director – MENA & Europe at RELX will participate in the panel discussion ‘Industry Commitment to Fight Youth Use and illicit Trade Through Product Conformity’, which takes place on 17 June between 15:00 and 16:15 [2].
The RELX Standard
Exceptional product quality is one of RELX’s cornerstones, guaranteed through a multi-step process that includes sourcing quality components, stringent manufacturing, inspections, quality control (QC), and research and development (R&D). Through fostering a close relationship between its design, R&D and production teams, RELX ensures all stages of the build process are as effective as possible.
First conceptualised in RELX’s Innovation Lab and with production governed by the RELX Standard, each product undergoes a manufacturing process that is marked by no less than 18 strict QC steps. The products are produced in one of the world’s largest e-cig manufacturing facilities, which has received the renowned Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification. The certification recognises products that are manufactured responsibly and are of high quality, using sound production equipment.
The RELX Standard, which prioritises product quality over cost, has seen the firm apply for 700 patents globally and conduct up to 200 quality checks on products to safeguard consumer safety. The approach has been recognised as going beyond known industry requirements. In fact, exacting standards has seen RELX responsibly discard two million e-liquid pods per year, which exceeds the total number of pods sold by other e-cig brands.
As e-cig use grows, the need for quality testing and after-sales testing is obvious. Working proactively to better the industry, RELX also leverages its five labs to create a quality testing system that affords it the capacity to advance research into e-cig and vapor products. This ultimately benefits the end user, bolstering certainty about the make of the products they are using, whether they wish to stop smoking entirely or want a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes.
