More and more Saudi young people are starting to use electronic cigarettes, and RELX will officially announce its entry into the Saudi market in 2021. Before that, RELX had already quietly entered the UAE market and Kuwait market. The local shisha culture in the Middle East is a feature of the local culture, and the fruit-flavored smoke cream has a long-standing reputation. Therefore, most locals have a very high degree of acceptance of electronic cigarettes, and fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes are very popular.

A Saudi female e-cigarette user who did not want to be named said she had heard of the brand before and was excited about its launch in Saudi Arabia. "I quit smoking a few years ago, but turned to e-cigarettes because of RELX's fruity flavor. It's hard to find good brands in Saudi Arabia, so it's very exciting to hear that a high-standard e-cigarette brand like this is coming here. of."

Due to the growing trend of e-cigarettes, Saudi Arabia has announced new regulations similar to those in Europe governing the standards adopted for packaging and labelling of e-cigarettes. The training was designed to complement Saudi officials' efforts to combat the illicit trade in contraband and counterfeit e-cigarettes in the country, including the successful Golden Shield program.

It is reported that RELX established the Golden Shield Program as early as August 2019 to help prevent the production and sale of illegal goods. Since its inception, the initiative has had a significant impact, removing over 550,000 counterfeit products from the market, as well as over 77,000 websites.

The training covered several key points: Identifying legal and illegal products; raising awareness and education about the consequences of the illicit trade in e-cigarettes; sharing research and intelligence on identifying illicit trade activities; working with government officials to track down and confiscate counterfeit products , develop and implement product certification, track and trace technologies. To improve the effectiveness of the training, RELX International has partnered with SABA IP, a leading intellectual property (IP) company.

Fouad Barakat, General Manager of RELX Saudi, commented when he first entered the Saudi market: "The Middle East and North Africa region is one of the fastest growing markets in our category, with a growth rate of nearly 10% by 2024. Saudi Arabia It’s one of the largest and most prosperous markets in the region, so any brand needs to launch there if it wants to thrive and grow.”