Elfbar has confirmed it will be carrying out a voluntary withdrawal of its non-compliant 600 lines from the UK market.

In a statement released on 10 February, and seen by Better Retailing, the Chinese vape brand revealed that in a meeting, with the MHRA, and trade associations UKVIA and IBVTA, the regulator recommended the product be withdrawn.

However, it did stress the non-compliance doesn’t present any issues of safety, but instead is a contravention of UK regulations.

“We will be assisted in ensuring the withdrawal is carried out effectively, and without causing any unnecessary market disruption, by a trading standards primary authority,” the brand said. “We will update all of our distribution and retail partners when we have agreed how this corrective action will be enacted.”

EXCLUSIVE: Booker drops all Elfbar 600 lines and tells stores to remove products from sale

In addition, Elfbar announced it would be investigating all its other vape products that are exported to the UK.

An investigation by the Daily Mail newspaper last week revealed several of Elfbar’s ‘600’ line of disposable vapes sold in leading supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons had at least 50% more e-liquid than the 2ml legal limit.

As a result, the three supermarkets have issued a nationwide ban on the sale of all Elfbar products. Better Retailing understands, however that it has not yet been confirmed whether any other batches of product from the supplier are affected.

Elfbar “wholeheartedly” apologised for what it described as a manufacturing error. A statement from the company sent to stores read: “We wish to reassure you that we are working around the clock with all our supply chain partners to replace all stock so we can 100% ensure that no product incorporates the 3ml capacity tank in the UK. The new 2ml capacity batches will be arriving in the UK within 30 days.”

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