A controversial device that can be used to inhale liquid nicotine was approved and left on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods for two months before the mistake was realised.

In an embarrassing slip-up the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) allowed three electronic cigarette - or e-cigarette - products to be listed as "medical devices", with one application stating the intended purpose of the device is to "be used as a quit smoking aid".

While the devices are easily obtainable and hard for authorities to police, the sale of nicotine containing e-cigarettes is currently banned in Australia.

The World Health Organisation has called for strict regulation around the devices and found that currently there is not enough scientific evidence to support the belief that they helped people quit smoking.

By law, any product claiming to help people quit smoking is considered a therapeutic good and must be authorised by the TGA.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show the application for approval of an Electronic Vaporiser Kit, an Evo Electronic Vaporiser Kit and Vaporiser Kit Cartridges was made by Sydney-based company EVA natural.

Two of the three applications were received, approved and reviewed on the same day, while the third application took just one day to review and approve.

A spokeswoman for the TGA confirmed it was the first e-cigarette device to have been included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.

"However, it was subsequently removed after it was identified that it had been self-listed inappropriately," she said.

The product was removed at the request of the applicant after the TGA began a review of the product.

The Federal Government is currently conducting an independent review of the TGA's regulation processes to remove ineffective regulation and encourage greater competition.

Electronic cigarettes are a multi-billion-dollar business overseas, but across Australia the products are regulated by a myriad of different and sometimes conflicting state, territory and federal laws.

In June a West Australian court ruled the sale of e-cigarettes in the state to be illegal, while the e-cigarette delivery device is also illegal to sell in South Australia if it resembles a tobacco product.

In September the Queensland Government announced that at the start of 2015 it would become the first state in Australia to subject e-cigarettes to the same laws as tobacco cigarettes, while the ACT Government is also considering similar restrictions.

Last month the ABC revealed the TGA was being lobbied by big tobacco companies to allow e-cigarettes to be sold as a medicine to help wean smokers off regular cigarettes.

The National Health and Medical Research Council is currently funding a clinical trial of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation through the University of Queensland.

Health advocates like the Cancer Council of Australia are concerned allowing big tobacco companies to market e-cigarettes as a quit smoking aid could encourage more people into taking up the habit.

The ABC has contacted the company involved in the TGA application, EVA Natural, for comment.