LATEST ALERTSGermany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 321,132 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
New trial available: Click on any alert below and access our regulatory alerts and get timely notifications sent to your inbox for 7 days.
Sign Up
Access our regulatory alerts and get timely notifications sent to your inbox for 7 days
Your display name will appear here.
Please enter a username.
Germany: In answer to a question put by Bundestag member Rita Hagl-Kehl of the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD), state secretary Ophelia Nick said the commissioner for addiction and drug issues, Burkhard Blienert, had announced that he would work to restrict tobacco advertising and that existing regulations on the marketing and sponsorship of nicotine would be reviewed.
Germany: Stuttgart’s customs office seized almost 300 litres of untaxed e-liquids at an event described by organisers as “Germany’s largest vape trade fair”, press reports. Officers found irregularities at 11 of the 15 stands they checked at the Hall of Vape fair. In eight cases, criminal proceedings were initiated against those responsible for the stands, with a total of €36,000 collected as security for expected fines.
Germany: Federal drugs commissioner Burkhard Blienert has called for a ban on sweet and fruity flavours for e-cigarettes, saying they make vaping more attractive, especially to young people, press reports.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 315,432 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: Federal drug commissioner Burkhard Blienert has called for stricter rules on tobacco advertising, including e-cigarettes, after a survey of 1,383 people conducted by the Federal Drug Commission found that three-quarters supported a complete ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. “The over-presence of large-scale advertising for alcohol, for tobacco and e-cigarettes at kiosks and petrol stations, and for gambling on television, is a major problem for Germany’s consumer protection, youth and health policies,” Blienert said. “Politicians can’t ignore that any longer.”
Germany: The Federal Joint Committee responsible for determining which medications are available through health insurance has told ECigIntelligence that it has not yet decided whether e-cigarettes will be accepted as a smoking cessation medication. Deliberations are continuing and no deadline for a decision has been given.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 310,464 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: Customs officers have have seized 4.4 litres of untaxed e-liquids during an inspection in Potsdam, near Berlin. They found seven out of ten retailers failed to comply with the current Tobacco Tax Law. E-liquids have been taxed since 1st July 2022 and the transitional period allowing the sale of old stock ended on 12th February 2023.
Germany: In a meeting organised by the newspaper eGarage, German politicians from the current coalition government shared their thoughts on e-cigarette taxation and a disposable e-cig ban. The Free Democratic Party (FDP) representative, Gero Hocker, said that the party is, in principle, in favour of reducing the tax burden and he also considered a tax advantage for e-cigarettes compared with combustible tobacco. Spokespeople from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the FDP were in favour of the disposables ban. "We would welcome it if that is successful, but we are skeptical that it will happen fast enough", said Rita Hagl-Kehl SPD member of the Bundestag.
Germany: Customs officers have seized 46 l of e-liquids and 40 counterfeit e-cigarettes in the Rhine-Neckar region of northwest Baden-Württemberg, on which a total of about €7,500 tax had gone unpaid. E-liquids have been taxed in Germany since 1st July 2022, and all old untaxed old stock should have been sold by 12th February 2023.
Germany: The Bundesrat (federal council) has voted in favour of calling “on the federal government to campaign at the national and EU level for an effective ban on the marketing of single-use e-cigarettes”, at the initiative of Bavaria. The Bundesrat is also urging the federal government to examine further measures, in particular on how to “counteract the improper disposal of single-use e-cigarettes”. The resolution, however, is not binding for the federal government.
Germany: The Bundesrat will vote on 3rd March on Bavaria’s initiative for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes. This follows the recommendation by the Bundesrat Environment and European Union Questions Committee that the federal government advocate an effective ban on the marketing of disposables at both national and EU level.
Germany: Following Bavaria’s call for an EU-wide ban on disposable e-cigarettes, the Bundesrat has published a committee recommendation calling on the federal government to advocate an effective ban on the marketing of disposable e-cigarettes at both national and EU level.
Germany: The Federal Office of Statistics has released figures showing that €42.5m was collected last year in taxes on the sale of 266,018 litres of e-liquids and e-liquid constituents. E-liquids, with or without nicotine, became taxable in Germany on 1st July 2022.
Germany: The Bundesrat Environment Committee will discuss Bavaria’s call for an EU-wide ban on disposable e-cigarettes on 16th February. The Environment Ministry of the state of Thuringia has also expressed a view, agreeing on the “attempt to tackle the problem of disposable e-cigarettes at EU level” but saying a ban on short-life batteries should only be considered if they do not meet the legal requirements for recyclability.
Germany: The state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein has called on the state government to support the Bavarian government’s plea for a campaign to ban disposable cigarettes at federal and EU level. “Disposable e-cigarettes produce a lot of e-waste and are literally a fire hazard,” said the motion’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) sponsor, Sandra Redmann.
Germany: Saxony-Anhalt health minister Petra Grimm-Benne, a member of the Social Democratic Party – which is part of the government coalition – has expressed her support for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes, which have a "poor environmental record", press reports. This follows support for the ban on disposables by Baden-Württemberg's health minister and chairman of the Conference of Health Ministers, Manne Lucha.
Germany: Members of the coalition Green Party (Die Grünen) are discussing a deposit system ("Pfand") for disposable e-cigarettes to encourage users to recycle the products properly, press reports. Once the product is returned, the user would get the deposit back. "A deposit of around ten euros on such single-use products could significantly improve recycling and disposal and reduce the incentive to sell them in retail stores,” said Green Party chairwoman, Linda Heitmann.
Germany: In response to a parliamentary question put by The Left party (Die Linke) on the taxation of e-liquids, the government said that as the regulations have only been in force for a short time, it did not see any need for change. It added: “A need for change could possibly arise in the future due to regulations to be implemented from the upcoming revision of the EU Tobacco Tax Directive.”
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 303,179 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The minister of health of the state of Baden-Württemberg, from the coalition party Die Grünen, and chairman of the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK) Manne Lucha wants to ban disposable e-cigarettes, press reports. There are already efforts by the environment ministers to examine a ban on disposables. "As Minister of Health, I expressly support this. The federal and state governments should now urgently address this issue," the politician said.
Germany: The federal drug commissioner, Burkhard Blienert, has called for stricter rules on the advertising of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, press reports. Blienert said that the products should be banned from social media, the internet, TV and radio. For e-cigarettes and heated tobacco in particular, he supported a ban on colourful advertising at kiosks, supermarkets and fuel stations.
Germany: The German Medical Association has called on the federal government to expand the planned ban of heated tobacco flavour to e-cigarettes. This comes after the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) published a draft of the third amendment to the Tobacco Products Law, which will transpose the flavour ban for heated tobacco products imposed by EU Directive 2022/2100. According to the association, the aim is to make e-cigarettes less attractive to young people and other non-smokers and smokers. The draft has not yet been sent to Parliament.
Germany: The Bavarian state government approved a Federal Council initiative to call for a campaign at EU level to ban disposable e-cigarettes. The reason for the ban is the electronic waste that is disposed of with residual waste. The initiative intends to call on the federal government to lobby at EU level for an amendment to the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive with a subsequent ban in the Single-Use Plastic Ban Ordinance.
Germany: Customs authorities in the city of Krefeld (close to the French border) have announced the seizure of hundreds of vaping products that lacked the tobacco tax marks and for which excise taxes had not been paid. In addition, tens of thousands of disposable products were seized for non-compliance with the EU Tobacco Products Directive requirements – namely for not respecting the 2 ml tank size limit and health warning requirements – on top of unpaid taxes. An investigation is still ongoing.
Germany: According to a survey held by the Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the largest biomedical research institute in Germany, more than three quarters of participants would like neither e-cigarettes nor heated tobacco to be used in non-smoking areas. The research centre is demanding that federal and state governments include both products in their non-smoker protection laws.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 293,204 products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The federal government has introduced the Disposable Plastic Fund Bill, in which manufacturers of single-use plastic must pay an annual fee into a central fund administered by the Federal Environment Agency. The fee will depend on the quantity of single-use plastic products made available. E-cigarette devices that use single-use plastic may be affected. If approved, the first fee will be paid in 2025.
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.
Germany: In answer to a parliamentary question by opposition MP Hans-Jürgen Thies, the federal government said it was currently examining further measures to prevent certain products from being disposed of in household waste and that disposable e-cigarettes are covered by the draft EU Ecodesign Directive. The government will advocate rules on the replaceability of batteries and e-liquids that would ensure disposable e-cigarettes could no longer be placed on the market.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 288,962 products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The Federal Joint Committee responsible for defining what drugs statutorily insured people are entitled to has told ECigIntelligence that it has not yet decided whether e-cigarettes will be included as a smoking cessation drug. Discussions on the question were due to take place this year.
Germany: The Federal Association of German Waste has called for a ban on disposable e-cigarettes, press reports. According to the chief executive of the association, Peter Kurth, those products are almost never disposed of in proper recycling centres and “the incorrect use of raw materials in disposable e-cigarettes must therefore come to an end immediately”.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 276,544 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 273,422 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: Starting from today (1st July), e-liquids will be taxed on a base of €0.16 per ml. The tax will see annual increases until 2026. A complaint from the Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment, an association of small and medium-sized companies, was filed in June in the Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) to prevent future increases in the tax, but so far it has not been analysed.
Germany: Today (30th June) is the deadline for e-cigarette manufacturers and importers to submit their annual market data report on e-cigs.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 267,980 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment, an association of small and medium-sized companies, has filed a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) to prevent future increases in e-cigarette tax, press reports. This follows a tobacco tax reform, adopted in 2021, which introduced a tax on e-liquids with or without nicotine from 1st July 2022, increasingly annually until 2026.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 262,404 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The second and final day of the seminar “Opportunities and risks of e-cigarettes" from The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) was today. Among other things, the debate was held on the risk assessment and the banning of flavours, in which the BfR stated that it is currently assessing the toxicity of e-cig flavours.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 257,600 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) will hold a seminar on “Chances and risks of e-cigarettes” in Berlin and online on 28th and 29th April. The event aims to discuss the current state of knowledge on e-cigarettes, including flavouring and consumer protection.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 254,020 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months ago are listed.
Germany: The Federal Council (Bundesrat) sent a bill to the national parliament (Bundestag) to amend the Federal Non-Smoking Protection Act to ban smoking in closed vehicles in the presence of children and pregnant women. Violation would incur a fine of between €500 and €3,000. Although e-cigarettes are not specifically mentioned, the federal government has declared in the past that e-cigarettes fall under the Act. The Bundestag will decide whether to accept the proposal. There is no deadline for the decision.
Germany: The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has updated the list of notified e-cigarette products, which now contains 247,925 vapour products. Only products notified at least six months previously are listed.
