Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in Argentina

23rd October 2024: Argentina: Philip Morris International (PMI) is hoping that the Argentinian government, led by president Javier Milei after the elections in October 2023, reverses the ban on heated tobacco products (HTPs) and liberalises the national market, press reports. As forecasted in our Policy Radar, Milei’s pro-market and liberalist view could mean the reversal of the ban imposed by the Ministry of Health in March 2023. Two weeks ago, manager of PMI’s South-America cluster Demian Pintos said in an interview that the company is in talks with the government to explore the possibility of reversing the ban.
12th December 2023: Argentina: The Ministry of Health has rejected two administrative appeals against decree 565/2023, which prohibits the importation, distribution, sale and any form of promotion and sponsorship of heated tobacco products and devices. The appeals were presented by a tobacco company and two tobacco associations. The denials exhaust the administrative route, leaving only the judicial method of appeal available.
20th November 2023: Argentina: The far-right Freedom Advances political party candidate Javier Milei won yesterday's (19th November) presidential elections with 55.9% of the votes, and will be elected as president on 10th December 2023. Our forecast indicates that, although not a priority, Milei's libertarian stance could entail a reduction in the restrictions on the e-cigarette and heated tobacco markets, which remain subject to a blanket ban.
23rd October 2023: Argentina: The candidate for the left-wing coalition Union for the Homeland (previously known as Everyone’s Front Party), Sergio Massa, won the first round of the presidential elections that took place yesterday (22nd October) with 36.7% of the votes obtained. Massa will now face the second-most voted candidate, Javier Milei (30%), from the far-right party Freedom Advances, in the second and final round of the presidential elections, which will be held on 19th November. Although neither candidate has expressed their policy intentions for novel tobacco and nicotine products, we expect that a Milei-led government could result in a far more lenient regime, with a possible lift of the current ban, as shown in our Policy Radar.
27th June 2023: Argentina: Regional organisations the Salta Tobacco Chamber (CTS) and Misiones Tobacco Planters Association (APTM) have reportedly presented an administrative appeal to challenge Decree 565/2023, which came into force in March, banning the importation, distribution, sale and promotion of heated tobacco products.
17th May 2023: Argentina: The government has sent Congress a proposal to adhere to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Argentina signed the convention in September 2003, but is one of the few countries in the world that has not ratified it. Among other things, the FCTC tackles the advertising, labelling and taxation of tobacco products.
11th April 2023: Argentina: Following the recently-issued Decree 565/2023 prohibiting the importation, distribution, sale and any form of promotion and sponsorship of heated tobacco products, two Congress members from the ruling coalition presented a bill last week seeking to overrule the ban and regulate heated tobacco products by including them in the tobacco law.
3rd April 2023: Argentina: MP Carolina Moisés from the ruling coalition has reportedly asked the minister of health to suspend Decree 565/2023, which entered into force on 28th March 2023 and prohibits the importation, sale and advertising of heated tobacco devices and consumables. The decree will also be challenged by the Argentinian Federation of Tobacco Manufacturers, according to press reports.
29th March 2023: Argentina: A Health Ministry decree came into force yesterday, banning the importation, distribution, sale and advertising of heated tobacco devices and consumables. An official ministry statement said that although heated tobacco products were promoted as low-risk products, “so far no independent study has shown that they are harmless to health. On the contrary, some investigations have verified that they contain many of the toxic substances that common cigarettes have, in some cases in a higher degree of concentration.”

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