Market & legal data of the tobacco alternative sector in Denmark

1st October 2024: Denmark: Today, the obligation for online retailers to operate a new age-verification system for online sales of tobacco, nicotine, e-cigarettes and alcohol enters into force. As of today, all online shops must use an effective IT system to verify buyers’ ages that requires a passport or other valid ID to create a user account. Retailers have the flexibility to choose the method of verification that best suits their needs, allowing them to find the most efficient way to ensure compliance with the new age-control measures.
20th September 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of Health has notified a bill to the European Commission’s TRIS database to amend an order on requirements concerning packaging, extended producer responsibility for packaging, and other waste collected with packaging waste. The order implements the existing and expected legal bases of the Environmental Protection Act to lay down rules on extended producer responsibility for packaging. The standstill period ends on 17th December.
3rd September 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of Health has notified several bills to the European Commission’s TRIS database to amend six executive orders. These include a draft order on standardisation and packaging requirements for single-piece cigarettes, rolled tobacco, nicotine pouches and components in single-packed chewing tobacco and tobacco surrogates. Further amendments address the standardisation of tobacco packages, herbal heated products and technical equipment used with heated tobacco, focusing on colour and packaging elements for both disposable and outer packaging. Another bill concerns packaging and labelling of tobacco substitutes. One of the draft orders also introduces labelling requirements for electronic cigarettes and nicotine refills, and limits nicotine content in tobacco surrogates to 9 mg per pouch. Another two orders introduce further requirements for health warnings and the provision of nicotine content and information for tobacco surrogates, including details of the Stoplinien helpline and website. Indication of flavours is also prohibited, with the exception of tobacco and menthol. The standstill period for all these orders finishes on 3rd December.
1st July 2024: Denmark: An amendment to the Act on Tobacco Products and the Act on Electronic Cigarettes enters into force today. It strengthens age control for sales of tobacco and nicotine products, authorising the Danish Safety Technology Authority to make use of young control buyers with hidden identities.
25th June 2024: Denmark: At an EU council meeting, minister of health Sophie Løhde urged the EU Commission to change the EU legislation to protect children and young people against tobacco and nicotine. “Across Europe, we are seeing an increase in the use of new nicotine and tobacco products among children and young people. This is a very worrying development, as nicotine products are highly addictive and harmful to health. With the support of a large number of EU countries, I have therefore today urged the European Commission to do more in Europe to limit the marketing of tobacco and nicotine products, especially in relation to children and young people,” she said. France, Germany, and the Nordic member states supported the Danish position.
18th June 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of Health has released for consultation a draft bill to amend the Tobacco Products Act. The measures include a ban on flavourings for nicotine pouches other than tobacco and menthol, the possibility for the Ministry of Health to set rules on maximum nicotine levels in nicotine pouches, an expansion of the places where heated tobacco usage is prohibited and increased penalties for those who do not comply with the law. The consultation is open until 19th August. The bill has also been notified to the EU TRIS database, with a standstill period until 18th September.
5th June 2024: Denmark: Parliament has approved an amendment of the Act on Tobacco Products and the Act on Electronic Cigarettes. Among other measures, the amendment strengthens age control for sales of tobacco and nicotine products, authorising the Danish Safety Technology Authority to make use of young control buyers with hidden identities. The law enters into force on 1st July 2024.
13th May 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of the Environment is analysing whether legislation can be introduced to extend producer responsibility for nicotine pouch manufacturers, press reports. This means that companies would be responsible for cleaning up their products that end up as litter in nature and public spaces. According to the minister, “there is no difference between cigarette butts and nicotine pouches that end up in natural settings. This is waste that should not be lying around in nature.”
29th April 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of Health has notified a bill to the European Commission’s TRIS database to amend the Executive Order on Quality, Labelling and Age Control Systems, to reinforce the already existing age-verification mechanism and impose stricter requirements. The amendment establishes that retailers of tobacco products and tobacco substitutes must operate an age-control system for remote sales that effectively verifies the buyer’s age. The standstill period finishes on 29th July 2024.
26th March 2024: Denmark: The Ministry of Environment has notified a decree extending producer responsibility for single-use plastic products, including filters for tobacco products. The decree establishes a registration system for producers of single-use plastic products, the obligation to report the quantity of products and the payment of a quarterly fee to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency to cover costs of municipal and state clean-up, transport and treatment of littered waste. The fee will be published on the Environmental Protection Agency's website. The standstill period ends on 25th June 2024.
15th December 2023: Denmark: The Danish Safety Technology Authority has told TobaccoIntelligence there are no rules or definitions that apply directly to herbal heated products. However, the authority has assessed the products and understands that they fall under the definition of e-cigarettes. This means that, depending on if they are nicotine-containing or nicotine-free, the products must comply with the e-cigarette rules, such as notification via the EU Common Entry Gate (EU-CEG), and they must not have any flavour other than menthol or tobacco.
23rd November 2023: EU: Christel Schaldemose, a Danish member of European Parliament (MEP) from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, has asked the European Commission (EC) a set of questions regarding cigarette filters. She has asked if the Commission will make efforts to introduce a ban on the sale of cigarettes with filters in the EU, and whether, alternatively, the Commission will make efforts to introduce legislation enabling individual member states to introduce bans on the sale of cigarettes with filters in order to protect the public and the environment at the national level. We understand that the answers and possible efforts from the Commission would also be applicable to heated tobacco filters.

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Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in Denmark

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