Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in Iceland

12th January 2024: Iceland: Amendments to the Tobacco Law were published on 10th January 2024 in the Official Gazette. The amendments transpose the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into the Icelandic legal framework and place heated tobacco products under the product restrictions and common notification system currently in place across the EU. The law does not, however, transpose the EU-wide heated tobacco flavour ban.
8th January 2024: Iceland: The law amending various laws to accommodate the 2024 Budget was published in the Official Gazette on 27th December 2023. The bill increases the applicable excise duty on heated tobacco products and chewing tobacco from ISK32.45 (€0.22) per g to ISK33.60 (€0.23) per g. The bill entered into force on 1st January 2024.
22nd September 2023: Iceland: The minister of health has reintroduced a bill to Parliament to amend the Tobacco Control Act No. 6/2022 to transpose the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into the Icelandic legal framework. The bill, which was already introduced in December 2022, would place heated tobacco products under new restrictions, including product restrictions and the common notification system currently in place across the EU. The reintroduction of the bill follows the plans set out in the parliamentary agenda for the 154th legislative session (2023-2024), presented earlier this month by prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
14th September 2023: Iceland: Yesterday (13th September), prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir presented the parliamentary agenda for the 154th legislative session (2023-2024). The agenda includes plans from the Ministry of Health to reintroduce a bill amending the Tobacco Control Act to transpose the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) into the Icelandic legislative framework. The bill would place heated tobacco products (HTPs) under new restrictions, including product restrictions and the common notification system currently in place across the EU. A bill to this end was proposed in December 2022, but did not get approved.
14th September 2023: Iceland: The Ministry of Finance presented a bill this week that seeks to amend various laws to accommodate the 2024 Budget. The bill would amend the Law on Alcohol and Tobacco Tax to increase the applicable excise duty on heated tobacco products and chewing tobacco from ISK32.45 (€0.22) per g to ISK33.60 (€0.23) per g.
1st March 2023: 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.
9th January 2023: Iceland: The Law amending various laws to accommodate the Budget for 2023 was published in the Official Gazette on 30th December 2022. The law amends the Law on tobacco and alcohol tax to increase the applicable excise duty for heated tobacco products and chewing tobacco from ISK30.15 (€0.20) to ISK32.45 (€0.21) per g of tobacco.
13th December 2022: 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.
13th December 2022: 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).
11th October 2022: 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.
10th October 2022: Iceland: The period to submit comments to the bill that would amend the Tobacco Control Act No 6 of 2002 by transposing the European Tobacco Products Directive into the Icelandic legal framework ends today. If eventually adopted, new product restrictions, labelling restrictions and notification requirements will apply to heated tobacco products in the future. Certain provisions would also be applicable to chewing tobacco products – the only legal oral tobacco products in Iceland.

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