Doughbot Enterprises and Officer fined $87,312 and company and its Director undertake to comply with advertising rules for nicotine vaping products

The TGA has issued 13 infringement notices totalling $87,312 to Doughbot Enterprises Pty Ltd and an officer of the company in relation to the alleged advertising of nicotine vaping products on websites and social media. In addition, an enforceable undertaking to not advertise nicotine vaping products or support their advertising has been accepted by the company and its sole director.

The TGA is taking strong regulatory action against those who fail to comply with legal requirements around advertising of nicotine vaping products. This includes use of both infringement notices and enforceable undertakings or directions notices. These are published on the TGA website.

Nicotine vaping products are prescription-only medicines and cannot be advertised to the public (with the exception that pharmacies can provide a plain notice indicating they can dispense products on prescription). These laws are in place to reduce the attraction of nicotine e-cigarettes to young Australians, while enabling adults to have access to these products for the sole purpose of smoking cessation when under a doctor’s prescription.

Separately, proceedings have recently been commenced in the Federal Court of Australia against Prefixx Pty Ltd, Vapor Kings Pty Ltd and their respective executive officers for alleged unlawful advertising of nicotine vaping products.

For more information about how the TGA manages advertising compliance can be found at How we manage advertising compliance.

If you suspect non-compliance in relation to therapeutic goods more broadly, you can report illegal or questionable practices online to the TGA.