The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is undertaking a major overhaul of its UK notification database to remove old and obsolete products which are no longer being sold.
The MHRA says the update is needed in order to ‘to support regulatory oversight, provide reliable information to consumers, enforcement authorities and ensure that MHRA records accurately reflect the products currently available on the GB & NI markets.’
It said:
“Since the introduction of the notification scheme in May 2016, the vaping market has evolved significantly. Changes have included the UK’s departure from the European Union and the establishment of the separate Great Britain notification system from 1 January 2021, alongside substantial changes in product portfolios, market dynamics, and the emergence of new categories of vaping and nicotine products.
“As a result, the MHRA is undertaking a programme of work to improve the accuracy and integrity of the Great Britain notification database. We believe that a significant number of products originally notified, particularly under the pre-Brexit arrangements, may no longer be actively marketed in Great Britain and Northern Ireland or will require significant updates to the information provided. This may be due to commercial decisions, product reformulations, portfolio rationalisation, changes in ownership, or regulatory developments.”
The MHRA is now asking all notification holders to undertake a review of their historic pre-Brexit notifications and identify any products that are no longer marketed.
Specifically it wants notification holders to review all products notified prior to January 1, 2021 and to:
- Identify products that are no longer marketed, supplied, or otherwise placed on the GB & NI markets.
- Remove those products from the MHRA notification database in accordance with the relevant notification procedures.
- Ensure that any notifications for products still supplied have accurate and up to date formulation, test data and responsible person (affiliate company) details provided.
The regulator said: “This exercise is not intended to affect updated products that continue to be marketed in Great Britain and Norther Ireland, regardless of when they were originally notified. Please conduct this exercise over the next 8 weeks at which point we will move towards the next phase of the review process 4th December 2026.
“Your cooperation will help ensure that the MHRA database remains a robust and accurate reflection of the current market and will support future regulatory activity across the vaping sector.
“Please note it is an offence to supply a product that does not comply with your notifications. MHRA will share details of any suspected non-compliance with our enforcement partners. Any products supplied that do not comply with their notifications will be subject to seizure. ”
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