E-cigarettes in the Netherlands

Netherlands: The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) carried out an inspection at the weekend of 35 shops in The Hague, of which 23 were found to be selling e-cigarettes to minors without age verification. Owners of those shops now face fines ranging from €1,360 to €9,000.

Netherlands: The e-cigarette trade association Esigbond is taking the government to court in a bid to halt the ban on e-cig flavours due to come into force in October, press reports.

Netherlands: Figures from the national statistical office, Statistics Netherlands, show a significant increase in e-cigarette use among young people in 2022 compared to 2021. The biggest rise was in the 16-20 age group, where reported use of e-cigarettes went from 2.5% in 2021 to 8.8% in 2022, an increase of 252%. Among the 20-30 age group, it went up by 247% from 1.7% in 2021 to 5.9% in 2022. In the youngest group in which vaping was reported, 12-16 years, the number of e-cigarette users more than doubled from 0.8% in 2021 to 1.7% in 2022.

Netherlands: The House of Representatives has approved a motion calling on the government to introduce mandatory neutral appearance for e-cigarette devices themselves, not just their packaging, media reports. Also passed was a motion demanding a licensing requirement for tobacco sales outlets.

Netherlands: Governing coalition party Democrats 66 was today set to submit a motion to the House of Representatives calling for an enforced change in the appearance of e-cigarettes to make them “as neutral and uniform as possible”, media reports.

Netherlands: A Ministry of Health regulation on banned flavours in e-cigarettes came into force on 1st January, providing a list of flavouring additives that can be used in e-liquids. It sets a grace period until 1st October for existing products produced or released before 1st July 2023 and for which a notification was made through the common entry gate no later than 28th November 2022.