Alternative tobacco and nicotine products in Iceland

Iceland: Most of the labelling requirements laid down in Regulation 991/2022 on the packaging of nicotine products, e-cigarettes and refills containing nicotine apply from today to nicotine pouches, under an amendment issued in November 2022. New restrictions include a requirement for tobacco-free pouches to carry a health warning, a list of ingredients in descending order by weight, and an information booklet containing certain warnings, contraindications and usage and storage instructions.

Iceland: A bill to amend the Tobacco Control Act No. 6/2022 by transposing the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into the Icelandic legal framework has been submitted to the Althingi (parliament) by the Ministry of Health. It would place heated tobacco products under new restrictions, including product restrictions and the common notification system currently in place across the EU.

Iceland: An amendment to Regulation 991/2022 on the packaging of nicotine products has been published in the Official Gazette, deferring the entry into force of certain labelling requirements for nicotine pouches to 1st March 2023. At the same time, an amendment to Regulation 992/2022 on marketing notifications, licensing, and ingredients of nicotine products has also been published, lowering the fee for licence applications to sell nicotine pouches from ISK72,864 (€482) to ISK27,224 (€180).

Iceland: The Ministry of Health has told TobaccoIntelligence that, for the time being, it does not plan to issue a regulation restricting the marketing of flavoured nicotine pouches. Plans for a flavour ban were quashed when the Parliamentary Welfare Committee deleted the provision on flavours, proposed by the Ministry of Health in the first draft of a recently-enacted bill amending Act 87/2018 on E-cigarettes, Refills and Nicotine Products.

Iceland: Following the presentation of the Budget for 2023, including a 7.7% increase in tax on heated tobacco products, the Ministry of Finance is to introduce an amendment to the Act on Taxes on Alcohol and Tobacco, no. 96/1995, increasing the applicable excise duty from ISK30.15 (€0.22) to ISK32.45 (€0.23) per g of tobacco.

Iceland: The Ministry of Health is inviting comments until 10th October on a bill amending the Tobacco Control Act No 6 of 2002 to transpose the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into Icelandic law. If the bill is adopted, new product and labelling restrictions and notification requirements will be applied to heated tobacco products. No changes will be applied to oral tobacco, which is banned, or to nicotine pouches, which are covered by different regulation.

Iceland: The Ministry of Finance and Economy yesterday presented the draft Budget for 2023, which was being submitted to Parliament today. As it stands, it would bring an increase of 7.7% on the tobacco tax applicable to heated tobacco products.