E-cigarettes in Portugal

Some e-cigarette facts in Portugal

Portugal’s e-cigarette market is predicted to grow over the next few years despite a recent slow-down, probably brought about by the tough e-cig regulations that were brought in in January 2016. These have subsequently been toned down but are still in place.

The Amendment to the Tobacco Law 63/2017 tackles all policy areas to a large extent in accordance with the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). The law does not regulate zero-nicotine products, which should comply with general consumer-safety laws. In practice, though, the authorities may try to enforce on non-nicotine products the advertising and sales restrictions applicable to nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. This is because non-nicotine products can be associated with nicotine ones and their promotion interpreted as indirect promotion of nicotine products.

While the Portuguese Tobacco Law bans both domestic and cross-border distance sales of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, in practice it is possible to shop fully online so we can presume that the authorities are not currently enforcing these regulations, so the online channel appears to be active despite regulation not allowing distance sales.