The European Commission has launched a new public consultation: Public consultation questionnaire – Revision of the EU rules on tobacco products and tobacco advertising. On the surface, it is about gathering views. In practice, however, the questionnaire raises serious concerns as to whether the EU is genuinely interested in what citizens think – or whether […]

Cyprus has officially stepped away from efforts to force a consensus on the Tobacco Taxation Directive (TED)—exactly as expected. The deadlocked file now moves to the incoming Irish presidency. A Cypriot spokesperson confirmed to Politico Pro Healthcare that months of attempted compromises failed to resolve deep divisions between EU member states. In short: the proposal collapsed […]

Around the world, the debate is moving toward a more pragmatic nicotine policy, where the focus is shifting from total bans to real public health outcomes. Pouch Patrol is actively involved in these discussions, most recently through a submission in Australia (number 41), where strict regulations and prohibitions have proven to work against their original […]

The European Commission’s proposal to revise how the EU taxes cigarettes and tobacco-related products has reached a critical point. Bloomberg Tax now highlights Sweden as one of many member states that is set to vote against the proposal in its current form. It is important to understand that this is not an isolated objection. On […]

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest report on nicotine pouches follows a familiar pattern: alarm, suspicion, and calls for tighter restrictions. Unfortunately, this is hardly surprising. For some time, the WHO has treated reduced-risk products not as tools to help smokers quit, but as problems to be contained. The issue is that this position is […]

At this month’s Technovation in Stockholm, scientists, policymakers, and industry leaders gathered to discuss the future of smoke-free products, including nicotine pouches. Haypp’s Markus Lindblad explained why online retail is structurally better at preventing youth access to nicotine than physical stores, and what framework is needed to make it work across the EU.  Lindblad opened […]

Poland has notified draft legislation that would ban flavours in nicotine pouches and prohibit all new nicotine products not covered by the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). While presented as a public health measure, the proposal raises serious concerns. In practice, it risks undermining fundamental EU principles and discouraging smokers from switching to less harmful […]

The ambition to reduce smoking is, at its core, self-evident. Cigarette smoking remains one of the largest preventable causes of disease and premature death worldwide. Yet international experience shows that the path to achieving this is far from straightforward – and that well-intentioned political decisions can, in practice, absolutely do more harm than good. There […]

The European Commission is preparing the next major step in Europe’s tobacco and nicotine policy. The new rules are meant to be based on an evaluation of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). However, the Commission now admits that the foundation for this work is incomplete and weak. Because around a dozen EU member states failed […]

When an “EU diplomat” quoted by Euractiv claims that Sweden is facing a “last chance” to compromise in order to give nicotine pouches “legal recognition,” it mainly exposes how badly Brussels has misread the political reality in Sweden – and how little it understands the Swedish model. Sweden has already chosen. The cards are on […]