Phoenix 2 Retail, a leading distributor of vaping and alternative nicotine products, has announced a long-term partnership with Serve Legal, which provides ID and compliance testing services.
The collaboration follows the launch of the 'Pre 2 Post-Market' Compliance Testing Program by Phoenix 2 Retail to support and maintain standards across the vape market.
The program, which launched on 1 March, is supported by many leading category brands, FMCG retailers, trade bodies and Trading Standards to ensure Phoenix 2 Retail can support improvements to help the target of a smoke-free date of 2030 across the UK.
“The vaping industry is still relatively new, constantly evolving and developing. Vaping presents one of the most significant global public health opportunities, and we must continually strive to improve standards and policy,” Chris Kelly, Phoenix 2 Retail chief executive, said.
“Working in partnership with regulators, brands and retailers, developing a pre and post-market testing program will deliver the improvements the market and the industry requires. Phoenix 2 Retail has taken the initiative to assist and lead the discussion and solution on how we improve and support brands and retailers in delivering a smoke-free future."
Phoenix 2 Retail said the partnership with Serve Legal will help to protect against underage sales, enhance retailer education and improve performance and compliance for retailers.
Serve legal will conduct thousands of visits across the UK FMCG landscape to allow Phoenix 2 Retail to support retailers with education, compliance and high-quality, accurate age verification testing programmes.
“As we have grown and taken a position as one of the leaders in the supply of FMCG vaping products, we see ID compliance, youth access management and category compliance as a responsibility that we need to lead by example,” Kelly said.
“Working with Serve Legal is the next step forward in meeting our commitments to one of the fastest-growing FMCG categories.”
Jenni Garrett, sales and client manager of Serve Legal, added: “We're delighted to be working with Phoenix 2 Retail to support the UK's leading vape retailers with managing age-verification compliance and protecting against underage access.”
