Market and regulatory data for the vapour sector in Germany

2nd September 2024: Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 434,289 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months previously are listed.
8th August 2024: Germany: The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court has ruled that a screen placed in the outside-facing window of a fuel station, showing two brands of tobacco products, constitutes “outdoor advertising”. In interpreting the meaning of “outdoor advertising”, the court emphasised that “the focus is not on the place where the announcement is made, but on the place where the advertising is perceived as intended or at least expected” and that it is irrelevant whether the advertising itself is physically placed inside or outside. The decision mentions that the prohibition extends to e-cigarettes.
7th August 2024: Germany: The Environment Ministry of Baden-Württemberg is calling on the federal government to ban disposable e-cigarettes because they are often disposed of incorrectly and lead to fires, press reports. It also wants the government to look into the possibility of introducing a deposit on lithium batteries. The idea is that consumers would either return their used e-cigarettes to the shop where they bought them or take them to a collection point for electronic waste.
1st August 2024: Germany: The federal government commissioner for addiction and drug issues, Burkhard Blienert, has called for existing loopholes in advertising regulation to be closed. “Other countries are much further ahead in this respect,” he said. “Existing marketing at points-of-sale such as petrol stations and kiosks, the free distribution of tobacco heaters and e-cigarettes, advertising in cinemas, and the sponsorship of festivals by the nicotine industry make no sense. In my opinion, all of this should be abolished, as stipulated in the coalition agreement.”
31st July 2024: Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 429,185 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months previously are listed.
2nd July 2024: Germany: In an open letter, the German Environmental Aid (DUH), the German Medical Association and the Federal Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Waste Management, among other organisations, have called on environment minister Steffi Lemke to introduce a national ban on disposable e-cigarettes. According to the letter, a ban could be implemented through the Electrical Appliances Act, which is currently being revised. The draft act requires retailers of disposable e-cigarettes to have collection points, but does not ban disposables.
1st July 2024: Germany: The opposition parties in the Bundestag (Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union of Bavaria) have presented a motion calling on the German government to work at the EU level to develop a delegated act for disposable e-cigarettes on the basis of the EU’s Ecodesign Regulation. The intention is to ensure that disposable e-cigarettes are included as one of the product groups to be regulated under the framework, to improve labelling requirements, and to develop a national regulation on the presentation of disposable e-cigarettes at the point-of-sale and online to reduce their attractiveness.
28th June 2024: Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 423,472 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
31st May 2024: Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 418,396 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
24th May 2024: Germany: Answering a small parliamentary question from members of the opposition right-wing party Alternative for Germany on tobacco and e-cigarette policy, the federal government said there are no plans for a “smoke-free” generation similar to the one proposed in the UK. Also, the government said there are no plans to increase taxes on e-cigarettes, and that “e-cigarettes cannot be recommended in terms of harm reduction with regard to public health”. When asked about a disposable ban, the federal government said it is committed to a uniform regulation at EU level.
3rd May 2024: Germany: The Federal Ministry of Environment and Consumer Protection opened for consultation an amendment to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act that would make it obligatory for retailers of disposable e-cigarettes, including kiosks and fuel stations, to have collection points. Information about the return policy would have to be provided in order to increase awareness of proper disposal of products. Companies, associations and civil society organisations have until 23rd May to take part in the consultation.
30th April 2024: Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 370,221 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.

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