Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in Belgium

2nd October 2024: Belgium: Supermarket chain Buurtsuper.be has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court regarding a measure in the tobacco plan approved in March 2024. Buurtsuper.be considers the ban on selling tobacco products, tobacco-related products, and e-cigarettes in food stores larger than 400 m² to be discriminatory. “The decision is not based on any study or evidence of a link between store size and public health,” says Buurtsuper.be.
10th July 2024: Belgium: Starting 1st April 2025, the point-of-sale display of tobacco and similar products such as herbal heated products will be prohibited. This means that products may no longer be visible inside or outside the outlet. To assist retailers in complying with the new rules, the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety, and the Environment has published a brochure and an FAQ document.
10th June 2024: Belgium: In Belgium’s federal elections, the right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) emerged victorious with 16.7% of the national vote. The extreme-right Vlaams Belang followed closely with 13.8%, followed by the conservative-liberal party Reformist Movement with 10.3%. The far-left Pvda/PTB, left-wing Vooruit, Christian-Democrats CD&V, and the Socialist Party each gathered between 8% and 9%. Prime minister Alexander De Croo’s liberal OpenVLD received just 5.4% of votes. It is not clear yet what the government coalition majority will look like; however, it’s likely to be led by N-VA and Vlaams Belang. None of these parties presented specific tobacco or vaping policies in their programmes; however, right-wing parties tend to be more lenient towards these sectors.
11th April 2024: Belgium: The government notified a bill to the European Commission via the TRIS system that aims to introduce plain packaging for heated tobacco products, heated herbal products and heating devices.
2nd April 2024: Belgium: Parliament has approved a bill to amend the law on smoking bans, which prohibits smoking and vaping in amusement parks, zoos, playgrounds, children’s farms, and sports fields starting 31st December 2024. The bill also sets the possibility of designating smoking areas in such places.
19th March 2024: Belgium: Parliament has approved a bill aimed at implementing some of the objectives set by the 2022-2028 Strategy for a Tobacco-Free Generation. The bill introduces measures such as a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products, tobacco-related products and e-cigarettes in temporary points-of-sale starting 1st January 2025, and food shops larger than 400 m2 starting 1st April 2025. It also introduces a ban on point-of-sale displays starting 1st April 2025, and mandates that retailers must request proof of identity from individuals purchasing products who appear to be under 25 years old. The sanctions for violating the advertising ban are also strengthened, and penalties for the long-distance purchase of tobacco products, e-cigarettes and refills have been introduced.
19th March 2024: Belgium: The Ministry of Health has published a decree to transpose Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2022/2100 regarding the withdrawal of certain exemptions for heated tobacco products (HTPs). This decree incorporates the EU flavour ban into national law and adopts the same definition as the delegate directive for HTPs. Consequently, TobaccoIntelligence understands that the health authority will assess each notified product to determine whether it is a smoking or smokeless product. The decree also extends the current framework for smokable herbal products to include herbal heated products (HHPs) and brings heated tobacco and herbal heated stick devices under the tobacco framework, introducing notification, packaging and labelling requirements. Additionally, it implements a ban on long-distance sales for all products and devices and updates notification fees. The new decree will replace the current royal decree on the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products and herbal products for smoking starting from 1st January 2025, while the provisions related to HTPs come into force today, 19th March, the day of publication in the Official Gazette.
16th January 2024: Belgium: In December 2023, the Council of Ministers adopted a bill aimed at implementing some of the objectives set by the 2022-2028 Strategy for a Tobacco-Free Generation. The bill includes measures such as a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products in the hospitality sector, temporary points-of-sale, and food shops larger than 400 m2 (it isn't clear if this also applies to e-cigarettes). It also mandates that retailers request proof of identity from individuals purchasing tobacco products who appear to be under 25 years old. The bill also aims to introduce a ban on point-of-sale displays for tobacco products and related products, such as vapes and herbal heated products. The sanctions for violating the advertising ban would also be strengthened, and penalties would be introduced for the long-distance purchase of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes and refills. The bill was introduced to the parliament on 11th January.
25th October 2023: Belgium: The Council of Ministers approved a package of ten measures to enhance tobacco control in Belgium, which includes a display ban in retail stores, tightening of the smoking ban, stricter control on manufacturing, and the extension of existing regulations to cover all tobacco and tobacco-related products. The package of measures also proposes to increase the excise tax on cigarettes and rolling tobacco.
29th September 2023: Belgium: The Royal Decree banning the sale of nicotine pouches and cannabinoid-containing pouches enters into force for retailers on 1st October. British American Tobacco (BAT) has challenged the Royal Decree before the Council of State, the highest administrative court.
30th June 2023: Belgium: The Royal Decree banning the sale of nicotine pouches and cannabinoid-containing pouches enters into force tomorrow, 1st July, for manufacturers and importers. It will enter into force for retailers on 1st October. British American Tobacco (BAT) has challenged the Royal Decree before the Council of State, the highest administrative court.
24th May 2023: Belgium: British American Tobacco (BAT) is to take a challenge to Belgium’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, against the royal decree banning nicotine pouches, press reports. BAT will argue that health minister Frank Vandenbroucke did not wait for an opinion from the Superior Health Council and did not take into account recent scientific research on the subject before announcing the ban, which is due to come into effect on 1st October.

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