Market & legal data in the tobacco alternatives sector in Poland

9th December 2024: Poland: The Ministry of Health has amended the draft regulating nicotine-free vaping products to also include nicotine pouches, press reports. The draft prohibited nicotine-free vape sales to under-18s as well as sales through vending machines or online. With the inclusion of nicotine pouches, these products will also be subject to these restrictions. Furthermore, the new draft aims to ban nicotine pouches with flavours other than tobacco and subject them to a maximum nicotine content limit set at 20 mg/g. Through a letter to the Ministry of Health, Employers of Poland (Pracodawców RP) – the oldest and largest organisation of employers in the country – has criticised the inclusion of the new measures, claiming that this substantially changes the draft version that was reviewed by stakeholders and that this new version should be reviewed as well. The Ministry of Agriculture has also criticised the draft, as it claims that pouches with synthetic nicotine are alternative products to snus – which is banned in the EU, with the exception of Sweden – and that pouches should not be legalised.
31st October 2024: Poland: The minister of health, Izabela Leszczyna, has said in an interview with press that the ministry is working on a bill to ban synthetic nicotine pouches. She said that she aims for the draft bill to be ready by the end of the year. “We want to introduce a complete ban on their sale,” she said. If the bill is introduced and passed, the sale of nicotine pouches made with synthetic nicotine will be banned.
31st October 2024: Poland: Yesterday (30th October), the Senate passed the amendment to the Excise Duty Act, increasing the excise rates on e-liquids from 2025. Last week, the Sejm (lower chamber of the parliament) also passed it. The amendment also establishes an increase in the heated tobacco rates from PLN377.01 (€86.62) per kg to PLN565.52 (€129.95) per kg in 2025, PLN678.62 (€155.90) per kg in 2026 and PLN780.41 (€179.25) per kg in 2027. The current tax will remain applicable until 1st March 2025.
22nd October 2024: Poland: The Sejm (lower chamber of parliament) has passed the amendment to the Excise Duty Act increasing the excise rates on heated tobacco products (HTPs) from 2025. It establishes an increase from PLN377.01 (€87) per kg to PLN565.52 (€131) per kg in 2025, PLN678.62 (€157) per kg in 2026, and PLN780.41 (€181) per kg in 2027. The current tax will remain applicable until 1st March 2025.
15th October 2024: Poland: Health minister Izabela Leszczyna has said the next session of the Council of Ministers will discuss two draft amendments to the Tobacco Act, press reports. The amendments include bans on the advertising of nicotine-free e-cigarettes, their sale to under-18s, their sale in vending machines and online sales, and a ban on heated tobacco flavours. The Ministry of Health is expecting the amendments to enter into force by the end of the year. However, the ban on the sale to minors and advertising of nicotine-free e-cigarettes and the ban on heated tobacco flavours will not be applicable until six and nine months, respectively, after the amendment’s entry into force.
2nd October 2024: Poland: The Council of Ministers has adopted the draft act amending the Excise Duty Act, which increases heated tobacco and e-liquid rates. It establishes an increase in the heated tobacco rates from PLN377.01 (€87.75) per kg to PLN565.52 (€131.64) per kg in 2025, PLN678.62 (€157.94) per kg in 2026, and PLN780.41 (€181.64) per kg in 2027. The current tax will remain applicable until the 1st March 2025.
26th September 2024: Poland: The Ministry of Finance has decided not to tax heating devices for now despite initial plans. The ministry has opted to postpone the taxation of these products due to reported technical problems related to taxation and stamping of these devices and the practical impossibility of implementing the tax in such a short period of time: the government aims to pass the amendments to the e-liquids and heated tobacco excise duty rates as soon as possible, before 1st January 2025, so the new rates can be applicable from March 2025.
2nd May 2024: Poland: The government has announced that a bill taxing nicotine pouches and other innovative products will be introduced, press reports. The bill will propose an excise duty to be implemented in 2025 at a rate of PLN100 (€23) per kg. The excise duty would increase progressively to PLN200 (€46) per kg in 2026 and PLN300 (€69) per kg in 2027. It has been announced that the bill will also tackle other innovative tobacco-free products that are currently not taxed. TobaccoIntelligence believes that this new excise duty category would include herbal heated products. However, no further details have been revealed.
30th April 2024: Poland: The Parliamentary Team for Counteracting Addictions has started discussions on the regulation of nicotine pouches. Jarosław Neneman, secretary of state in the Ministry of Finance, has informed the press that the team has already held several meetings with industry members and has reached an agreement on how to regulate these products. Neneman also announced that an excise duty over nicotine pouches has been agreed and will be implemented. Bills in this regard are expected to be introduced in the coming months.
7th March 2024: Poland: The Ministry of Finance has announced its intention to amend the definition of innovative products in the Excise Duty Act in order to include tobacco-free heated products due to their increasing presence in the market, press reports. Currently, only heated tobacco products are included under the definition of innovative products, and therefore tobacco-free heated products such as herbal heated products are not subject to the excise duty. If the amendment is made, herbal heated products will also be subject to an excise duty of PLN377.01 (€87) plus 32.05% of the weighted average price of smoking tobacco.
8th January 2024: Poland: As of 1st January 2024, the excise duty on heated tobacco is set at PLN377.01 (€87) plus 32.05% of the weighted average price of smoking tobacco. The excise rate will progressively rise to PLN414.71 (€95) in 2025 and PLN456.18 (€98.40) in 2026, finally stabilising in 2027 at PLN501.80 (€115), while the 32.05% will remain constant.
17th October 2023: Poland: Parliamentary elections took place in Poland on Sunday, resulting in a likely change of government. Today (17th October), with 100% of the votes counted, the ruling right-wing party Law and Justice (PiS) has obtained the largest amount of votes, but not the majority of seats in the Sejm (Polish Parliament lower chamber) it would need to govern. The sum of the opposition parties – the centre-right parties Civic Coalition (KO), Third Way (TD) and the left-wing Nowa Lewica (New Left) – makes a coalition government led by Civic Coalition leader Donald Tusk a feasible outcome. This will depend on whether TD decides to join the coalition government and give support to Tusk. This government switch could bring about some changes around e-cigarettes and tobacco products, as Tusk’s party has advocated in the past for limiting excise tax increases. However, it is still uncertain, as none of the opposition parties have made any reference to tobacco policies in their programmes.

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