Market and legal data for the vapour sector in Belgium

2nd October 2024: Belgium: Supermarket chain Buurtsuper.be has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court regarding a measure in the tobacco plan approved in March 2024. Buurtsuper.be considers the ban on selling tobacco products, tobacco-related products, and e-cigarettes in food stores larger than 400 m² to be discriminatory. “The decision is not based on any study or evidence of a link between store size and public health,” says Buurtsuper.be.
1st October 2024: Belgium/EU: The Council of State, the highest administrative court, has referred a question to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). The applicants, British American Tobacco Belgium and Nicoventures Holdings, are asking whether Article 20(3)(c), read in conjunction with Article 7(6), should be interpreted as requiring member states to prohibit – in relation to the marketing of e-cigarettes and refill containers – nicotine-containing liquid from including additives that facilitate inhalation or nicotine uptake, as stated in Article 7(6)(d), even if the e-cigarette does not produce combustion or smoke.
3rd September 2024: Belgium: The Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety, and the Environment has updated the lists of positive and negative e-cigarette product notifications.
10th July 2024: Belgium: Starting 1st April 2025, the point-of-sale display of e-cigarettes will be prohibited. This means that products may no longer be visible inside or outside the outlet. To assist retailers in complying with the new rules, the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety, and the Environment has published a brochure and an FAQ document.
2nd July 2024: EU/Belgium: The European Commission (EC) has provided ECigIntelligence with the full justification from the Belgian authorities of their measure to prohibit nicotine-containing disposable e-cigarettes – approved by the Commission in March, in accordance with article 24(3) of the Tobacco Products Directive. The EC’s decision to approve the measure already examines the justification from Belgium to a certain extent, but the new documents lay down all the arguments, data and statistics that the authorities provided to justify the ban. Two documents have been provided: the initial justification from the authorities that the EC deemed insufficiently complete to fully assess the measure, and the final justification that served as the basis for the Commission to approve the ban.
17th June 2024: China: According to recently updated trade data from the General Administration of Customs, in April 2024, exports of e-cigarettes to Belgium totalled approximately $9.59m, showing increases both month-on-month (194.08%) and year-on-year (74.15%). The export volume was around 178 tonnes, with higher growth rates month-on-month (232.86%) and year-on-year (136.78%). The export unit price dropped to $53.88 per kg, decreasing 11.7% month-on-month and 26.4% year-on-year, press reports.
10th June 2024: Belgium: In Belgium’s federal elections, the right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) emerged victorious with 16.7% of the national vote. The extreme-right Vlaams Belang followed closely with 13.8%, followed by the conservative-liberal party Reformist Movement with 10.3%. The far-left Pvda/PTB, left-wing Vooruit, Christian-Democrats CD&V, and the Socialist Party each gathered between 8% and 9%. Prime minister Alexander De Croo’s liberal OpenVLD received just 5.4% of votes. It is not clear yet what the government coalition majority will look like; however, it’s likely to be led by N-VA and Vlaams Belang. None of these parties presented specific tobacco or vaping policies in their programmes; however, right-wing parties tend to be more lenient towards these sectors.
4th June 2024: Belgium: The Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety, and the Environment has updated the lists of positive and negative e-cigarette product notifications.
2nd April 2024: Belgium: Parliament has approved a bill to amend the law on smoking bans, which prohibits smoking and vaping in amusement parks, zoos, playgrounds, children’s farms, and sports fields starting 31st December 2024. The bill also sets the possibility of designating smoking areas in such places.
26th March 2024: Belgium: The minister of health has said that disposable e-cigarettes will be banned from 1st January 2025; however, it is not yet clear whether this should be interpreted as a deadline for both wholesalers and retailers.
19th March 2024: Belgium: Parliament has approved a bill aimed at implementing some of the objectives set by the 2022-2028 Strategy for a Tobacco-Free Generation. The bill introduces measures such as a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products, tobacco-related products and e-cigarettes in temporary points-of-sale starting 1st January 2025, and food shops larger than 400 m2 starting 1st April 2025. It also introduces a ban on point-of-sale displays starting 1st April 2025, and mandates that retailers must request proof of identity from individuals purchasing products who appear to be under 25 years old. The sanctions for violating the advertising ban are also strengthened, and penalties for the long-distance purchase of tobacco products, e-cigarettes and refills have been introduced.
18th March 2024: Belgium: Today, 18th March, the European Commission approved Belgium’s proposed ban on disposable e-cigarettes, making the country the first-ever European Union member state to be allowed to ban these products. The Commission considers that, in the specific situation of Belgium, the alternative measures considered by the country would not necessarily sufficiently curb the growing use of disposables there and effectively protect public health. Therefore, the Commission considers the proposed prohibition justified, necessary and proportionate to the aim of protecting public health. Although Belgium sought to ban both nicotine-containing and nicotine-free disposables, the measure’s scope addresses only nicotine-containing ones, as the notification procedure established in Article 24(3) of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) can be pursued only for categories already defined in the TPD, and nicotine-free disposables are not addressed. Find out more on this subject in ECigIntelligence news.

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