ENDS Europe Conference

Broughton’s Managing Consultant for Product Realization, Pete Lomas, shares his thoughts from the recent ENDS (Electronic Nicotine Delivery System) Europe Conference held in Amsterdam.

This was the first ENDS Conference (both Europe and US) to be held in person, as opposed to virtually, since 2019. What a difference it makes to meet face to face again, and the high attendance figures demonstrated that people were keen to connect, debate, and socialise in the same venue. The added bonus was that the Conference was held in beautiful Amsterdam, and the weather at the end of May was fantastic.

There was a wide spectrum of attendees, ranging from big corporates to small independents, represented by commercial, legal, regulatory, scientific, and engineering professionals. There was also an all-encompassing agenda to keep the audience engaged and entertained throughout the two days.

The varied sessions included topics such as Market Trends, Regulatory Updates, Flavour Bans, Youth Access Prevention, Sustainability, and Medicinal Licensing of E-Cigarettes. I was fortunate enough to be invited to present during one of the sessions. I provided an overview of how important certain design parameters of an E-Cigarette are in order to achieve the specific requirements for a medicinal license. Thankfully the Q&A session at the end of my talk indicated it was a topic of interest to many in the audience.

As a Consultant for Product Realization, the presentations related to Sustainability particularly interested me. I enjoyed hearing from Liam Humberstone (Technical Director for Totally Wicked) about how his company was tackling the environmental impact disposable vapes are having. Totally Wicked has set up recycling points in each of its stores nationwide, and they are actively encouraging consumers to return used vapes for recycling. They are accepting any returned products, not just those which they sell, and have partnered with a recycling company to determine the best way to handle the various constituents, including the batteries. This is a fantastic initiative, which I hope catches on throughout the rest of the industry.

I was also interested to hear from Ciprian Boboi (Founder of the Independent European Vape Alliance) with his EU Regulatory updates. In particular, he talked about the new EU Batteries Regulation, which is due to replace the existing EU Batteries Directive. Potentially the most significant impact of this, particularly for rechargeable E-Cigarettes, is the requirement for the battery to be easily removed and replaced by the end-user without the need for any special tools. In most cases, this will require a significant re-design of existing products and will need to be a primary consideration for anyone developing new products. This is undoubtedly an area that Broughton can assist clients with as part of our Product Realization Services.

In summary, ENDS Europe 2023 was an exciting and engaging couple of days, and I look forward to attending next year’s event.