The Federal Court has fined three online e-cigarette retailers for making misleading claims about their products
The Federal Court has fined three online e-cigarette retailers – Joystick, Social-Lites and Elusion – to pay penalties for breaching Australian Consumer Law by making misleading claims about their products.
The court found each company had made representations that their products did not contain harmful carcinogens and toxins, when this was not the case, AAP reported.
Consumers were led to believe by this conduct that when using these e-cigarette products, they would not be exposed to the harmful chemicals found in ordinary cigarettes.
The ACCC said it understood this was the first time any regulator globally has successfully brought action for false and misleading claims about the presence of carcinogens in e-cigarettes.
The court also found the directors of Joystick and Elusion, and the CEO of Social-Lites, were knowingly involved in the illegal conduct and imposed additional penalties on those individuals. Joystick and Social-Lites were both fined $50,000, while Elusion was fined $40,000. Joystick’s director must pay a $10,000 penalty, as does Social-Lites’ CEO. Elusion’s director was fined $15,000.
“Consumers were led to believe by this conduct that when using these e-cigarette products, they would not be exposed to the harmful chemicals found in ordinary cigarettes,” ACCC Acting Chair Delia Rickard said.
“In fact, they were exposed to the same chemicals, including a known carcinogen that has no safe level of exposure.”
Independent testing commissioned by the regulator identified the presence of carcinogens and toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein in those companies’ products.
