Tag: United Arab Emirates

  • Air Global Launches R&D Facility in Dubai

    Air Global Launches R&D Facility in Dubai

    Photos: Air Global

    Advanced Inhalation Rituals (AIR Global) has launched a new research, design and development (RDD) lab in Dubai.

    Backed by an AED100 million ($27.23 million) investment, the facility will be used to develop and hire tech talent, drive innovation in the shisha industry and speed up the development of new products.

    The global hub will develop new inhalation products that build on the success of OOKA, a charcoal-free, pod-based shisha device, which, according to AIR Global, provides a cleaner alternative.

    OOKA currently delivers approximately 30 percent of AIR Global’s revenue in the United Arab Emirates region.

    The lab will boast newly designed laboratories and deliver purpose-built workshops; new products are in early phases of testing and intended for launch in 2025.

    “I have always drawn personal inspiration in my career from the power of technology—to create entirely new industries, disrupt existing sectors and develop products that no one else has thought of,” said AIR Global Chief Product Officer Paul Dawson.

    “And it’s this exact mindset and ethos that we will achieve through the RDD Lab. With an aspirational team from around the world and cutting-edge technology at our fingertips, we’ll be creating new prototypes and combining them with our existing range of products to fundamentally change how people experience shisha. It’s an exciting time to be part of such a talented team that will drive forward innovation.”

    The RDD Lab will employ 26 people and 19 different nationalities, with equal numbers of men and women in its workforce.

    “The business is embarking on the next phase in its growth journey at an incredibly exciting time, where consumers are showing appetite for more eco-conscious, reduced-risk shisha experiences. The RDD lab will not only create new products that put sustainability, science and technology at the forefront but enable us to break ground into new global regions,” said Chief Legal and Corporate Officer Ronan Barry.

    “The recent launch of OOKA in Germany, a significant shisha market, was a milestone moment for us as we aspire to bring new inhalation experiences to a European market. The launch of this lab gives us even more momentum to build on as we expand our product range and presence globally.”

  • Vaporesso Licensed to Sell in UAE

    Vaporesso Licensed to Sell in UAE

    The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) has licensed Vaporesso to sell in the country, the company announced in a press release.

    After nearly a year of strategic planning and application, Vaporesso received MoIAT certification for over 10 models of its products, including the Luxe XR, XROS 3 Mini, XROS 2, XROS 3, XROS Mini, XROS Nano, Zero S, Luxe X, Luxe QS, OSMALL 2, and GEN PT 60.

    “As the first open-system vaping device brand licensed by the MoIAT, we will continue our commitment to providing market-leading vaping products with unmatched quality and functionality,” said Jimmy Hu, vice president of Vaporesso.

    The first batch of MoIAT-certified products with compliant packaging has now arrived in the UAE and gone through taxation. This allows distributors, retailers and consumers to legally sell, stock and buy Vaporesso products with assured quality. Meanwhile, all future Vaporesso products will undergo MoIAT registration, ensuring quality and innovation for partners and consumers.

    The UAE government has enforced strict regulations to govern all nicotine-containing components used in e-cigarettes, refill packages, e-liquids and tobacco products sold in the country. The regulations demand that manufacturers and companies of vaping devices must meet Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology standards, which set out strict quality and safety requirements for e-cigarettes and related products before placing them on the market.

  • Myle Vape Opens Dubai Office

    Myle Vape Opens Dubai Office

    Photo courtesy of Myle Vape

    Myle Vape has opened an office and warehouse facility in Dubai to service its customers in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates is one of Myle Vape’s most important markets in terms of brand loyalty and market share.  

    “This move has been in the works for some time, and we could not be happier to announce this opening,” said Myle Vape co-founder and CEO Ariel Gorelik in a statement. “We have been operating from afar for too long, traveling back and forth from the USA multiple times a year, and it has become critical to the growth of our business that we made a serious move to [build] a major operations center in the UAE.”

    Launched in 2015, Myle Vape manufactures disposables, pod systems, rechargeable devices and vape accessories that are distributed globally outside the United States.

  • RELX Trains UAE Customs Officials on Illicit Trade

    RELX Trains UAE Customs Officials on Illicit Trade

    Photo: F8 \ Suport Ukraine

    RELX International and SABA IP recently trained officials from the Abu Dhabi Customs Authority and Department of Economic Development to help them combat the illegal trade in vapor products.

    The session covered topics such as distinguishing legal products from illegal ones, raising awareness about the consequences of the illegal e-cigarette trade and sharing research and intelligence. The program also discussed product authentication, tracking and tracing technologies.

    According to RELX, contraband and counterfeit e-cigarettes are produced in unregulated facilities and pose a serious health risk to legal age consumers and minors. Counterfeit e-cigarettes often use inferior e-liquid formulas; capsules frequently leak and provide misleading information about the nicotine dosage in the capsules.

    “The training sessions for the Abu Dhabi Customs Authority, Department of Economic Development and Ras Al Khaimah Customs Authority showcase RELX International’s commitment, as a responsible company, to working with local authorities, investigation firms and e-commerce platforms to identify and remove contraband and counterfeit e-cigarette products from the market, as part of the RELX Pledge,” said Robert Naouss, external affairs director, MENA and Europe at RELX International, in a statement.

    In 2019, RELX International established the Golden Shield Program to prevent the production and sale of illicit goods. Since its inauguration, the program has helped remove more than 550,000 fake products from the market, plus over 77,000 websites.

    Additional training sessions are planned in countries across the Middle East, including in Egypt and Jordan. Earlier this year, RELX concluded a training session with customs officials in Saudi Arabia.

  • UAE Bans Vaping in Public Spaces

    UAE Bans Vaping in Public Spaces

    Photo: Ldprod – Dreamstime.com

    Vaping e-cigarettes is prohibited inside offices and closed spaces across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the health ministry has confirmed. The use of e-cigarettes is now subject to the federal law on tobacco control in the country.

    This came as the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) highlighted the dangers of consuming tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, according to the Khaleej Times.

    According to the UAE government website, the federal law also forbids and penalizes: the sale of tobacco products to those under 18; smoking in private cars when a child under the age of 12 is present; smoking in houses of worship, educational institutions (such as universities and schools), health and sports facilities; automatic vending equipment and devices for tobacco distribution inside the country; and tobacco advertisement.

    The MoHAP said it has collaborated with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to block websites that advertise and promote electronic nicotine-delivery systems.

    The UAE had originally planned to ban vaping products because UAE-based doctors had said that e-cigarettes would create a whole new generation of smokers. However, the country changed course after advocacy groups pushed for the harm reduction products.

    Meanwhile, citing the National Health Survey, the ministry said the prevalence of adult tobacco smoking has declined from 11.1 percent in 2010 to 9.1 percent in 2018.

    The latest edition of the Tobacco Atlas suggests that the UAE has among the lowest cigarette consumption rates. A graphic shared as part of the report shows that an adult smoker consumes 438 cigarettes a year in the country.

     

  • UAE To Require Digital Tax Stamps for Vapor

    UAE To Require Digital Tax Stamps for Vapor

    Photo: Jörg Peter from Pixabay

    Starting Jan. 1, shisha and vapor products will have to carry digital tax stamps (DTS) in the United Arab Emirates, reports the Khaleej Times, citing the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) said.

    These products cannot be sold, transported, stored or possessed without the tax stamp.

    According to the FTA, the DTS system will improve tax collection and enable stakeholders to analyze the supply chain to better control illicit tobacco products.

    In addition, the DTS system allows for the implementation of compliance standards and facilitates inspection and control at customs outlets and local markets.

    The digital stamps will be placed on the packages of tobacco products and registered in the FTA database. The DTS contains data that can be read with a special device to make sure all taxes due have been paid.

    The tax stamp legislation had previously been scheduled to come into effect on June 1, 2020. However, authorities postponed the deadline to address challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

  • New App Helps Consumers Spot Frauds

    New App Helps Consumers Spot Frauds

    Photo: Marius Berthelsen from Pixabay

    The United Arab Emirates’ Federal Tax Authority (FTA) recently launched an smart application designed to help consumers detect uncertified tobacco products by scanning the digital tax stamps placed on cigarette packages and tobacco products included in the Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme, which went into effect at the beginning of 2019.

    The application also aims to ensure that these products meet the standard specifications, are not smuggled, and have been subjected to tax. The app is part of the FTA’s continuing efforts to protect consumers from commercial fraud and combat tax evasion utilizing the latest technologies.

    “The ‘FTA DTS’ smart application is one of the effective tools that support the ‘Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme,’ which came into effect at the beginning of 2019 to combat tax evasion, protect public health and reduce the risks to consumers from the inferior products entering local markets,” said Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director general of the FTA.

    “The FTA, through the new application, will offer consumers the opportunity to contribute to the control efforts aimed at protecting the markets from commercial fraud and inferior products, protecting public health, preserving the environment, promoting the concept of community partnership and eliminating negative practices in local markets.”

    The FTA intends to extend its digital tax stamps requirement to water pipe tobacco and electrically heated cigarettes in 2021.

  • UAE looks at dropping ban

    UAE looks at dropping ban

    The United Arab Emirates could be set to lift its ban on vaping products, according to a story by Nick Webster for The National Newspaper.
    The Government’s consumer watchdog, the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (Esma) is said to have begun a preliminary project to assess whether electronic nicotine devices should be allowed to be used in the country.
    Currently, electronic cigarettes are banned in the UAE.
    “We believe that Esma is seriously considering how to best regulate all novel tobacco products to ensure product safety and the highest quality,” said Lana Gamal El Din, director of corporate affairs for Philip Morris International.

  • Dokha sales limited

    Dokha sales limited

    People in the UAE will soon be able to buy only limited amounts of dokha, while all such products will have to carry graphic health warnings, according to a story in The Khaleej Times citing new standards approved by the National Tobacco Control Program under the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP).
    There was no mention in the story of what the limit would be and how sales would be policed. Dokha reportedly can be bought ‘anywhere’ at prices less than those of cigarettes.
    Wikipedia describes dokha as a type of tobacco that is usually mixed with herbs and spices, and smoked in a Medwakh (pipe). Dokha is said to be Arabic for ‘dizziness’.
    The new standards have been developed by the Emirates Metrology and Standardization Authority (ESMA) and approved by the ministry.
    Graphic health warnings have been required on other tobacco-product packs since 2012.
    “These regulations for dokha should be in place by the end of the year,” Dr Wedad Al Maidoor, director of the Primary Healthcare Center & National Program of Tobacco Control, told the Khaleej Times.
    “These new standards are being put in place to control the unlimited use of dokha which is growing in popularity among the youth,” she said.
    A draft of standards and specifications for electronic cigarettes is also ready with the ESMA but is still pending approval.
    Results from a health screenings study carried out in Abu Dhabi in 2016 showed that almost 30 percent of Emiratis in their thirties smoked medwakh.

  • High taxes = low smoking

    High taxes = low smoking

    The United Arab Emirates should raise taxes on tobacco to curb smoking and tobacco use, a researcher said during the Arab Health Conference in Dubai yesterday, according to a Gulf News story.
    Professor Scott Sherman, associate professor of medicine at NYU School of Medicine, said the higher the taxes, the lower the tobacco use rate.
    The visiting US expert conducts regular research in the UAE, which in October imposed a 100 percent excise tax on tobacco.
    Prices were pushed even higher after a five percent Value Added Tax was levied from January 1 on most goods, including cigarettes.
    The Times said that, extrapolating World Health Organization estimates, the impact of the tax rises should see tobacco consumption falling by 40 percent.
    It quoted the WHO as saying in September that a tax increase that raised tobacco prices by 10 percent reduced tobacco consumption by about four percent in high-income countries.
    In the UAE, home to about 10 million people, the prevalence of smoking among those aged 15 or more is 28.6 percent in the case of men and 0.7 percent in the case of women, according to WHO.
    Sherman said also that the UAE had taken “wonderful steps in the right direction” when it came to banning tobacco advertisements and placing graphic warnings on cigarettes packs.
    However, he added, the country should “broaden clean-air laws” by completely banning smoking inside “restaurants and bars”, doing away with “smoking enclaves”.
    “If Ireland can go smoke-free [indoors], which has a pub culture, there’s no reason it can’t be done here,” Sherman was quoted as saying.