LATEST ALERTSItaly: Local media leaked the first draft of the 2023 Budget Bill, which would block the planned increase in e-cigarette excise duty for 2023 and maintain the same level of taxation as in 2022. Nicotine-containing e-liquids would be taxed at 15% of the excise duty on the equivalent quantity of cigarettes (around €0.13/ml), while those without nicotine would be taxed at 10% of the excise duty on the equivalent quantity of cigarettes (around €0.08/ml). The bill has not yet been introduced in Parliament.
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From February 2022, subscribers can view and filter individual regulatory alerts per region. If you want to get our monthly compilations, visit our alerts round-up section.
Portugal: Today, the government approved the State Budget 2023 with amendments, media reports. The Budget included a proposal to increase the e-liquid tax from €0.323 to €0.336 per ml. The final text has not yet been released.
Russia: Mandatory traceability marking of e-liquids in Russia could start on 15th December, media reports. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has modified a decree, according to which the mandatory (digital) traceability marking is to begin ahead of schedule, if approved by the government. Currently, according to the government decree, the voluntary experiment on the marking of e-cigarettes and e-liquids with traceability markings is ongoing and is supposed to last until 28th February 2023. If a new decree for mandatory marking is approved, it will apply to nicotine-free e-liquids, liquids in cartridges, capsules, and disposable e-cigarettes, but refillable vapes will not be marked.
Lithuania: Parliament has approved Bill XIVP-2036(2), strengthening the Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department (NTAKD)’s power to shut down illegal advertising and online sales of tobacco and tobacco-related products, including e-cigarette products. From 1st January, the NTAKD will be authorised to order internet and network service providers to remove illegal content.
Italy: The government has introduced a provision into the 2023 Budget Bill that would block the planned increase in e-cigarette excise duty for 2023, media reports. The bill has not yet been introduced in Parliament.
UK: Asked if and when the long-anticipated Tobacco Control Plan might be published, junior health minister Lord Markham told the Lords (Parliament’s upper house) the government was “taking stock” of whether a fresh tobacco control plan was the best way to respond to the recommendations in the Khan review. The same view was shared a few days earlier in the House of Commons by junior minister Neil O’Brien, bringing into question the future of the plan.
Ireland: Health minister Stephen Donnelly and public health minister Frank Feighan yesterday received government approval to add additional restrictions to the Public Health (Tobacco Inhaling Products) Bill. The proposed restrictions include a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes and related nicotine-inhaling products in vending machines and in places or events intended for children. A proposal banning the advertising of e-cigarettes on public transport, in cinemas and near schools has also been introduced. The bill is expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
Ukraine: Bill 8215, which would ban the importation and transporting of tobacco products and e-liquids from Belarus during the period of martial law and/or the state of emergency, has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), media reports. The bill would also prohibit the importing of products whose owner or ultimate beneficiary is a legal entity registered in Russia or Belarus, or anyone on whom sanctions have been applied. If adopted, the bill will come into force the day after it is published.
UK: Warwickshire Trading Standards officers have carried out test purchases of e-cigarettes at 13 vape stores, using a 15-year-old volunteer, the county council has reported. All retailers asked for ID, but at one store, which remains under investigation, a sale “was nearly made”.
Slovenia: Concerns over the widespread use of e-cigarettes by minors were raised yesterday during a public conference held by the National Institute of Public Health, press reports. The conference, which brought together academics and public officials, heard that e-cigarettes were as dangerous as traditional cigarettes.
France: The Tobacconists’ Confederation is seeking exclusive rights to the sale of disposable e-cigarettes, claiming tobacconists would be able to comply with the ban on selling to minors better than online marketplaces do at present.
UK: Oxfordshire County Council announced yesterday that two businesses in the county had been prosecuted for selling disposable e-cigarettes to children, following investigations by Trading Standards officers. One store was fined £666 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £67 and the council’s full costs of £2,124. The other was fined £600 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and a contribution of £1,000 towards the council’s costs. A third retailer is due in court in January over selling an e-cigarette to a minor and for continuing to sell e-cigarettes in non–compliant packaging following a warning.
Spain: Licences to operate a tobacconist’s business are being sold at auction for up to €7m, press reports. If the Tobacco Market Bill, restricting the sale of vaping products to tobacconists, is eventually passed this would represent a big burden for e-cigarette retailers who would have to turn their businesses into tobacconists.
Belgium: The Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment has told ECigIntelligence that the draft 2022-2028 Strategy for a Tobacco-Free Generation will be voted on on 14th December by an interministerial conference on public health made up of federal and regional ministers. The plan, which covers vaping, sets several objectives, including keeping the tobacco industry out of the preparation and implementation of public health policies; improving health promotion policies; a ban on vending machines; tighter restrictions on long-distance sales and advertising; and improving the make-up of vapour products.
Denmark: The Danish Safety Authority has started a campaign against illegal disposable e-cigarettes, especially targetting forbidden fruit flavours that may appeal to children and young people. Most fines issued so far have been aimed at websites, with 295 social media profiles closed down and 65 ads removed from platforms.
Belgium: The Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment is drafting a bill to be submitted to the European Commission TRIS Database that would ban disposable e-cigarettes, media reports. Belgium already notified a bill to ban disposable vapour products in 2021, which received a negative opinion from the European Commission.
France: The Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly approved an amendment to the 2023 Social Security Funding Bill that removes the introduction of an excise duty of €6 per ml on disposable e-cigarettes previously proposed by the Senate. The same amendment would require the government to produce a report assessing the consumption evolution of tobacco products, with a particular focus on disposable e-cigarettes.
UK: When asked if the government will use the data on adult smoking habits by the Office for National Statistics for the Tobacco Control Plan, a junior health secretary, Neil O'Brien, said: "Should a new Plan be published, it will be informed by the most recent Office for National Statistics information on adult smoking habits in the United Kingdom." The future of the Tobacco Control Plan will also be tackled on 23rd November in the House of Lords where Lord Faulkner of Worcester will ask when the government intends to publish it and if it is still committed to achieving the smoke-free goal by 2030.
Russia: At the round-table discussion in the Federation Council, the Ministry of Finance proposed to increase the excise tax on e-liquids by 94% instead of 6% next year, media reports. In addition, the ministry also reportedly proposed to raise the excise tax on heated tobacco by 33% instead of the planned 4% next year. That said, no legislative moves have been made so far.
Lithuania: The Health Affairs Committee of the parliament is currently discussing the draft national agenda on drug, tobacco and alcohol control, prevention of drug use and drug-related harm up to 2035. The plan aims to reduce the supply of tobacco and related products through policies based on scientific studies, improving excise duties, raising awareness of the effects of smuggling on the public budget, regulating emerging products promptly, and strengthening advertising restrictions. However, some members of parliament are criticising the draft, saying it does not tighten the regulation of e-cigarettes enough. The draft should be voted on by the parliament in the coming weeks.
UK - Guernsey: Guernsey's Stop Smoking Service will be offering free rechargeable vape starter kits to smokers aged 18 and over to support them in smoking cessation. E-cigarettes will be offered in conjunction with free advice and/or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
France: Deputy Francesca Pasquini of the left-wing opposition NUPES alliance has presented Bill 464 to the National Assembly, aiming to ban disposable e-cigarettes from the French market.
UK: Tower Hamlets Council in London has announced the seizure by Trading Standards officers of 8,817 g of “illicit banned smokeless tobacco” as well as 640 counterfeit and “potentially dangerous” e-cigarettes that exceeded the nicotine cap.
UK: West Northamptonshire Council has announced that Trading Standards carried out test purchases in eight vape shops in October. Six shops correctly asked for ID and refused a sale to a 16-year-old girl when she could not produce any, while two shops didn’t. The two retailers now face further investigation. This follows previous inspections in April and August when two out of 18 shops visited sold e-cigarettes to a 16-year-old girl.
France: A joint committee made up of seven assembly members and seven senators has failed to agree a common version of the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill after the Senate adopted a version that would impose an excise duty of €6 per ml on disposable e-cigarettes, regardless of nicotine concentration. The bill has now been sent back to the National Assembly for another reading.
Germany: Following a meeting last week when members of the Bundestag discussed a smoking cessation study financed by the Federal Joint Committee, the body responsible for determining what medical care is covered by statutory health insurance, one of the study team has told ECigIntelligence that e-cigarettes will be given to participants as a harm reduction product. The study has four stages: psychological counselling, nicotine replacement therapy, smoking cessation medication, and harm reduction products.
Sweden: Bill 2021/22:245, presented in May by the previous government, has been adopted by the Finance Committee and will be debated in Parliament in the coming weeks. The proposal aims to increase excise duty on e-liquids by 1%, starting in 2024. Highly concentrated e-liquids (from 15 to 20 mg/ml) would be taxed at SEK4,040 (€374), and other e-liquids at SEK2,020 (€187), per litre.
UK: Barking and Dagenham Council has reported the seizure of over 500 illicit disposable vapour products from two local shops by the London borough’s Trading Standards department. Both retailers were given written warnings and will continue to be monitored by council officers, with the threat of prosecution if they carry on selling the products.
UK: Stoke-on-Trent City Council has announced that its Trading Standards team has seized 5,000 illegal e-cigarettes, worth around £66,000, since April. It said the confiscated products exceeded the 2 ml tank volume limit – equivalent to “approximately 650 puffs” – and were incorrectly labelled. Councillor Carl Edwards, cabinet member for housing and environment, said: “Our team regularly carry out inspections and test purchases to check that premises are following their legal requirements.”
UK: Junior health minister Neil O’Brien has told MPs that the Department of Health and Social Care works with the Department of Education on communications to schools to prevent children from taking up vaping. “To raise awareness of the risks of vaping to children, we have updated information and advice online at the Better Health and Talk to Frank platforms,” O’Brien said.
Lithuania: Bill XIVP-2036(2) was today approved at its first reading in Parliament. The proposal aims to strengthen the Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Control Department (NTAKD)’s power to shut down illegal advertising and online sales of tobacco and tobacco-related products, including e-cigarette products. If it is passed, the NTAKD will be authorised to order internet and network service providers to remove the illegal content.
Russia: The Far Eastern Customs authority has examined 510 different types of e-cigarette imported into Russia in 2022, media reports. In 20 types, the nicotine content was reportedly found to be two to three times above the legal level, up to 61 mg/ml – the legal limit being 20 mg/ml. Products that exceed the limit may be confiscated and destroyed.
Ireland: Calls have been made to raise the legal age to 21 to purchase tobacco products and e-cigarettes, press reports. Center-right party Fine Gael health spokesperson and Cork North Central TD (Teachta Dála, a member of the Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas – the Irish Parliament) Colm Burke has called on the government to consider this option and include it in the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019 that is currently under consideration. Burke made this proposal at an event titled "Tobacco 21: The case for raising the legal age for the sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes in Ireland" to which the Irish Heart Foundation and Council of the Irish Heart Foundation, among other medical organisations, attended. Currently, Fine Gael holds 35 seats out of 160 in the Dáil Éireann and it is part of the coalition government, alongside the center-right Fianna Fáil and the Green party.
Czech Republic: The Ministry of Health has updated the publicly available list of notified herbal products for smoking, e-cigarettes and substitute refills.
Ukraine: An MP from the Servant of the People majority parliamentary faction submitted Bill 8174 "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and some legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the strengthening of control measures over the circulation of excise goods", media reports. Bill 8174 seeks, among other things, to postpone the entry into force of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD)-like provisions of the Ukrainian tobacco legislation adopted last December, different provisions of which should enter into force between 12 and 18 months after its publication. It means that if this bill is adopted, the period of entry into force will be calculated not from the date of the publication of TPD-like provisions, but from the day following the end of the war in Ukraine.
France: The left-wing opposition NUPES alliance intends to submit a bill to the National Assembly to ban disposable e-cigarettes, media reports. The official text of the bill has not been submitted yet.
Estonia: The Board of Health, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the World Health Organization (WHO) are among bodies that have submitted comments on the Tobacco Act Amendment Bill. All three expressed disapproval of the parts of the bill that would amend the e-cigarette framework. The first reading of the bill is scheduled for 15th November.
France: The Senate has approved an amendment to the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill presented by Republican senator Catherine Procaccia which aims to impose an excise duty of €6 per ml on disposable e-cigarettes, regardless of nicotine concentration, to discourage their use by young people.
Poland: A bill to amend the Excise Duty Act has been introduced, aimed at amending the definition of e-liquids to guarantee that all those on the market are taxed. This is in response to some retailers selling e-liquids as air fresheners in order to avoid excise duty. E-liquids are taxed in Poland whether or not they contain nicotine.
Europe: The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns about what it sees as the alarming increase in vaping by young people in Europe. It says “there is a concern that ENDS can act as gateways to conventional smoking” and that “ENDS are often used to complement cigarette smoking, meaning people become dual users rather than substituting one for the other”. The WHO also reminded regulators of its tobacco control guidance, including recommending banning flavours that appeal to children, prohibiting use in indoor spaces where smoking is not permitted, and banning sales to minors.
UK: When answering MPs questions, junior health secretary Neil O'Brien said that the department is considering extending the current e-cigarette framework to non-nicotine vaping products.
Lithuania: The State Consumer Rights Protection Service (VVTAT) fined two e-cigarette suppliers for placing on the market disposable e-cigarettes that violate the Tobacco Law. The VVTAT found that the disposable vapes in question contained flavoured e-liquids and the labelling did not provide all the information required by the Tobacco Law.
Italy: The Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) published the 2021 Blue Book, which shows that the revenue from vapour products amounted to €17,737,617.77, increasing 44.63% compared to 2020.
France: The National Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) has published an updated list of notified e-cigarettes, which includes 90,131 products.
Estonia: The Health Board has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which contains 45,133 vapour products. A list of notified products that do not comply with the Tobacco Act has also been published.
UK: Today (3rd November) a debate on a motion on the independent review of smoke-free 2030 policies took place at the House of Commons. Junior health minister Neil O’Brien said that vaping is far less harmful than smoking and there is more that government could do to support smokers to switch. Member of Parliament Bob Blackman said that many recommendations made in the Khan review can be implemented though ministerial regulations and highlighted the need to secure necessary funding through a “polluter pays” levy that has bipartisan support.
UK: Yesterday (2nd November) Steve Brine was newly elected as chair of the Health and Social Care Committee. Brine was a junior minister at the Department of Health and Social Care from 2017 to 2019 and has been supporting vaping as an alternative for smokers.
Sweden: The Public Health Agency of Sweden has updated a publicly available list of notified e-cigarettes and refill containers. There are 12,317 vapour products on the list.
France: For the November 2022 no-smoking month (“mois sans tabac”), French authorities say electronic cigarettes, among several other options, could be an aid to quitting smoking or reducing tobacco consumption, but there is no knowledge about medium- and long-term benefits and risks of vaping.
France: Three deputies (Laporte, Studer, Seitlinger) submitted parliamentary questions asking whether the Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Ecological Transition are considering banning disposable e-cigarettes. The deputies say that these products are easily accessible to minors and they represent a problem for waste management as there is no recycling circuit for them.
