Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in France

France: From tomorrow, 1st March, heated tobacco sticks will be taxed at €19.30 per 1,000 plus an ad valorem rate of 51.4%. Other forms of heated tobacco products will be taxed at €72.20 per kg plus 51.4% ad valorem.

France: A joint committee made up of seven assembly members and seven senators has failed to agree a common version of the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill after the Senate adopted a version that would introduce a specific tax category for heated tobacco amounting to €44 per 1,000 consumables plus 45.3% of the tax-inclusive retail sales price (TIRSP) in 2023, €45.50 per 1,000 plus 47.4% of TIRSP in 2024, and €46.40 per 1,000 plus 49.4% of TIRSP in 2025. The bill has now been sent back to the National Assembly for another reading.

France: The Senate has approved an amendment to the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill presented by Republican senator Catherine Procaccia which would require the government to produce a report assessing the harmfulness of heated tobacco products in comparison to other tobacco and nicotine products, as well as the implementation of taxation system based on the products’ harmfulness.

France: The National Assembly has adopted an amendment presented by the government to the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill which aims to introduce two tax categories for heated tobacco products and an annual tax increase until 2025. In order to encompass possible future products, one category would tax heated tobacco sticks, while the other would tax all other forms in which heated tobacco is sold. The government amendment was presented after several parties criticised the original wording of the bill, which would only have taxed heated tobacco sticks. An amendment to tax nicotine pouches at €22 per kg was declared inadmissible.

France: A number of amendments to the 2023 Social Security Financing Bill (nos. 46, 1217, 1442, 1979, 2329, 2862, 2921 and 3272) have been put forward by different political parties, all with the aim of taxing heated tobacco by weight in order to encompass possible future products. As it currently stands, the bill would tax heated tobacco consumables at a rate of €44 per 1,000 units plus an ad valorem tax of 51.4%. Meanwhile, president Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party (formerly En Marche!) has introduced an amendment to tax nicotine pouches at €22 per kg.

France: The government is implementing its plan to tie the price of tobacco to inflation. The social security financing bill was presented to the Council of Ministers on Monday, when prime minister Elisabeth Borne announced: “I confirm that the price of a pack will increase with inflation. It would be quite paradoxical for the increase in cigarettes to be lower than inflation.” The government is proposing adapted tax scales for heated tobacco: from 1st March 2023 an ad valorem rate of 45.3% plus €44 per 1,000 units will apply; this will rise in 2024 to 47.4% and €45.50 per 1,000 units, and in 2025 to 49.4% and €46.40 per 1,000. The bill will be debated in parliament from 20th October.

France: A bill laying down emergency measures to mitigate the public effects of inflation and the energy crisis has been approved after just one reading by each chamber of parliament, under an accelerated procedure. It introduces an additional excise duty on tobacco products to compensate for the loss of revenue caused by the bill, but does not specify either a figure or what products will be affected.