After weeks of negotiations, Finland’s new government has announced its government programme. The coalition government plans to regulate nicotine pouches and align them under the Tobacco Act. With this change, the government seeks to control the sale of nicotine pouches with the objective of preventing use among youths, curtailing grey market imports, and combating illegal trade.

The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) is urging the Swedish government to protect its consumer-friendly approach to snus, vaping, and nicotine pouches in the face of opposition from the EU and WHO.

Jessica Polfjärd and Jörgen Warnborn, Members of the European Parliament, publicly express their concerns about the ongoing public consultation on revising the legislative framework for tobacco control.

The Finnish Medicines Agency, Fimea, has recently re-evaluated its classification of nicotine pouches, determining that they are no longer considered medicinal products unless marketed explicitly for medicinal purposes or proven to be typically used as such. 

The European Commission’s revision of the Tobacco Products Directive is ongoing. Now the Commission’s public consultation has been reported for containing political propaganda.

The European Commission is currently holding the second public consultation on the revision of the tobacco control legislation. Unfortunately, the questions and reply options are strongly biased towards prohibiting reduced-risk products.

The Czech Republic is considering extending its legislation on tobacco products and e-cigarettes to include nicotine pouches. All friends of nicotine pouches should welcome the Czech initiative.

The Belgium government is proceeding with its intentions to ban nicotine pouches, prompting questions as to why the country doesn’t allow for safer nicotine products to play a bigger role in the work towards a smoke-free generation. 

Last year, the Brussels Times and the Environment and Public Health Institute – EPHI, organised a seminar on new tobacco-free nicotine products and the upcoming revision of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), which regulates tobacco and nicotine products in all EU Member States. The seminar was held in the European Parliament.

The Dutch government is proposing a ban on the sale of nicotine pouches. While nicotine pouches should be regulated, a complete ban is misguided and could cause harm since it would remove a risk-reduced nicotine alternative from the market.