TPD (Tobacco Product Directive)

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 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.

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.

There are strong indications that nicotine pouches will be regulated or at least considered when the European Union revises its Tobacco Product Directive. Will EU legislators and EU countries understand the harm reduction potential of nicotine pouches when deciding how to regulate them?

Last month Pouch Patrol reported that the European Commission had opened a “Call for Evidence” which would inform the future regulation of nicotine products. The consultation received a record number of almost 25,000 contributions from organisations and experts, but mostly: EU citizens.

In June 2022, Haypp Group, initiator of Pouch Patrol and the world largest e-retailer of nicotine pouches, responded to the European Union’s call for evidence on the legislative framework for tobacco control.

Nicotine pouches are a less harmful alternative to smoking. Switching from cigarettes to nicotine pouches could save hundreds of thousands of European lives every year. But how should these products be regulated? Will the EU ban nicotine pouches as is the case for Swedish snus?