The European Commission’s plans for new tobacco and nicotine regulations have hit a major obstacle. The Commission’s own scrutiny board has issued a negative opinion on the impact assessment for the proposed Tobacco Products Directive (TPD3). Delays now appear inevitable, forcing EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi back to the drawing board. The EU’s efforts to […]

The EU is close to giving nicotine pouches their own place in the Union’s common tax system – without at the same time setting a minimum tax. That is the outcome of a compromise that 26 of 27 member states backed at the ECOFIN meeting on 9 November. But Malta said no and halted the […]

Sweden’s political landscape has changed, but its opposition to Brussels’ proposed nicotine taxes remains. Despite a new centre-left parliamentary majority, the country is maintaining the previous government’s negotiating position, threatening to derail Ireland’s EU Presidency as it pushes for a deal on tobacco taxation. The European Union is approaching a decisive moment in its negotiations […]

As Europe prepares to rewrite its tobacco rules, the EU has an opportunity to make a real difference to public health. But policymakers need to start in the right place. The goal cannot be to tackle all nicotine products with the same tools. The goal must be to reduce deadly smoking. Europe is facing one […]

Ireland has the Presidency, a Tobacco Excise Directive to finish and a Swedish veto blocking the road. If they want to succeed with bringing the EU Member States to a unanimous agreement, its strategic approach is a mystery. The Irish compromise would eventually impose a minimum tax on nicotine pouches of €80/kg. Ireland must surely […]

Spain was set to become one of Europe’s most restrictive countries for nicotine pouches and other nicotine products. Now, those plans have been put on hold. The Spanish Parliament has officially been dissolved, meaning the government’s proposed amendments to the country’s main tobacco law, Law 28/2005, have automatically been shelved. The legislation included sweeping changes […]

There are two schools of thought in today’s tobacco and nicotine policy debate. One wants to reduce smoking. The other wants to reduce nicotine use. As long as policymakers continue to pretend these are the same thing, Europe will continue to fail. Because if the goal really is to eliminate cigarettes, policymakers should start by […]

Eight European governments (the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, and Spain) formally asked the European Commission to take an extreme approach to the next Tobacco Products Directive (TPD3): freeze new nicotine categories, impose broad flavour and nicotine restrictions, curb cross-border sales, and preserve national powers to ban products such as nicotine pouches.  Youth […]

The European Parliament has provided an early indication of how nicotine pouches could be treated in the next generation of EU nicotine regulation. Last week’s vote on Parliament’s resolution on cardiovascular health prevention, while non-binding, offers important political signals ahead of the European Commission’s expected revision of the EU tobacco and nicotine framework in late […]

The Spanish government has taken an unexpected step in its ongoing regulation of nicotine pouches. After more than a year of political debate and over 4,000 stakeholder submissions, the Spanish government has now raised its proposed nicotine cap from 0.99 mg to 4 mg per pouch. While the level remains low compared with products currently […]