E-cigarettes in France

Vaping landscape in France

In May 2016, France transposed the European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Under this legislation, manufacturers and importers are only allowed to market e-cig products if they have them notified. Generally, product notifications must be submitted six months before the product is to be placed on the market.

The notification process is managed by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES).
France is a highly centralised country, and any decision that could have a major impact on the e-cig industry will only be made by the central government in Paris, as was the case when the TPD was transposed.

France signed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003. According to the results of Baromètre santé 2017, which were published in May 2018, in 2017, 31.9% of French adults between the ages of 18–75 smoked at least occasionally, and 26.9% daily.

France is – together with the UK – Europe’s most important market for e-cigs.