LATEST ALERTS
View allAlternative tobacco and nicotine products in Spain
Market reports
Full-length in-depth reports with detailed data and analysis for individual markets around the world
Regulatory reports
Detailed legal reports outlining industry regulation, analysis of the laws, and pertinent organisations
Market data
All of our heated tobacco and related products databases downloadable in Excel format
Regulatory data
Our full regulatory tracking databases including tax, proposed bills, etc.
Blog
Tobacco may not be a vote-winning issue, but what a difference an election makes
15th September 2022
Blog |
New trial available: Click on any alert below and access our regulatory alerts and get timely notifications sent to your inbox for 7 days.
Alerts
Our legal experts track the evolving regulation around the tobacco alternatives sector on a daily basis. These alerts are then compiled into our Monthly Round-up section.
8th March 2023
Spain: The Spanish Association of Establishments with Vending Machines (AEPVR) has sued the Commissioner for Tobacco Markets for an alleged campaign of harassment, press reports. Many bars that sell tobacco products via vending machines have been fined in recent months for not getting their supplies from one of the three nearest tobacconists, as the law requires. This has led a number of bars to withdraw the machines and stop selling tobacco. The AEPVR claims that since 2016 more than 50,000 tobacco vending machines have been withdrawn, removing “a natural barrier to smuggling”.
27th January 2023
- Spain: Along with medical and anti-tobacco associations from various countries, the Spanish anti-tobacco organisation "No-fumadores" is organising a campaign aimed at collecting 1m signatures throughout Europe to promote the first smoke-free generation in Europe. The campaign is also supported and organised by the National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT) – an organisation that includes all anti-tobacco associations in Spain – which hopes to encourage a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to those born after 2010. Among the measures, a smoking ban on beaches and a ban on tobacco advertising are being proposed.
28th October 2022
- Spain: The Ministry of Health has launched a new campaign against tobacco and vaping products. The campaign – titled "The smoke does not allow you to see" – claims that tobacco filters contain a substance that releases microplastics into the environment. It also states that cartridges and batteries from heated tobacco products increase the amount of "electronic waste". More information on which legislation is currently being discussed at the EU level and what effect it may have on tobacco products can be found in our environmental tracker.
23rd September 2022
- Spain: The government of Catalonia is preparing a regulation that would ban smoking on bar and restaurant terraces and at the entrances of schools, press reports. The measure is aimed at reducing the smoking population in the region. To date it has not been detailed whether the prohibition would also cover heated tobacco or vaping products. According to the last Health Survey of Catalonia, the smoking prevalence amounted to 22.6% of the population in 2021.
21st September 2022
Spain: The largest anti-tobacco organisation in Spain, the Smoking Prevention Committee (CNPT), has launched a campaign against tobacco and nicotine products with the hashtag #stophumotabaconicotina (stop smoke, tobacco, and nicotine). The CNPT is urging the government to pass the regulations on tobacco and vaping products that it announced several months ago.
12th September 2022
- Spain: In October, for the first time in 18 years, new 25-year licences (a total of 203) to operate a state-owned tobacconist will go out to tender. According to the law, state-owned tobacconists are the only retail outlets allowed to sell tobacco-containing products (sales are also allowed in vending machines located in fuel stations, restaurants, and other adult-only facilities). This initiative has been harshly criticised by anti-tobacco organisations, namely the president of Nofumadores, Raquel Fernández Megina, who has said it is a “suspicious” move and a consequence of the economic situation, as she found it contradictory to the government’s tobacco control plans (which reportedly have stalled).
25th August 2022
Spain: The Smoking Prevention Committee (CNPT) – the largest anti-tobacco organisation in Spain, representing several medical and anti-tobacco bodies – has criticised the government’s proposal in the Tobacco Market Bill to open 203 new tobacco shops. The CNPT says that instead of increasing the number of tobacconists, the current number should be cut by half. The CNPT also criticised the delaying of the Tobacco Control and Prevention Plan 2021-2025, which was meant to be approved eight months ago and has not yet even been presented. CNPT president Andrés Zamorano said he fears neither the Tobacco Plan nor the amendment to the tobacco laws that the government announced will take place before the elections that are due in November 2023.
13th July 2022
- Spain: The National Committee for Smoking Prevention (CNPT) has published a statement expressing concern about the widely reported decision of the Ministry of Health to stop work on an amendment of the Tobacco Act. The CNPT, which is the leading anti-tobacco organisation in Spain and is associated with medical and health organisations, is urging the ministry to confirm whether or not it will indeed abandon its legislative plans. It also insists on the need to approve laws that reduce nicotine and tobacco consumption and asks the ministry about the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025, which was meant to have been approved already. Both the Tobacco Act amendment and the prevention and control plan were intended to impose further restrictions on both tobacco and vaping products.
12th July 2022
Spain: The Ministry of Health has decided not to continue with its planned amendment to the Tobacco Act, press reports. The government has decided there is not enough time before its term ends at the end of 2023 to undertake the reform, which would have banned smoking on open-air terraces, in cars with children or pregnant women present, and in open-air stadiums. It would also have established neutral packaging and further restricted the advertising of tobacco and vaping products. The amendment was framed within the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025, which was meant to be approved by June 2022 and now presumably will not be approved.
1st June 2022
- Spain: The National Committee for the Prevention of Smoking (CNPT) has urged the government to implement the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025 and the consequent amendment of the Tobacco Law, press reports. The committee wants the list of smoke-free areas to be extended, and proposes to gradually increase the price cigarettes to €20 per pack. The president of the committee said that their objective is to achieve a tobacco- and nicotine-free generation by 2040.
1st June 2022
- Spain: The Council of Ministers has not yet approved the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025, reducing the chances of the plan being enforced during this legislature, press reports. The government failed to fulfil its promise to make a decision on this plan at the Council of Ministers on International Tobacco Day, which was yesterday, 31st May. The chances of enforcing the plan, which would require amending the tobacco law, are reduced with every passing week, as the 2023 elections approach. The plan, among other measures, intends to equate the price of all tobacco products. Additionally, it proposes to increase the number of smoke-free areas, where the use of heated tobacco products would also be prohibited. A flavour and additives ban is also considered in the plan, together with plain packaging restrictions. Nicotine pouches may be also regulated, provided that the plan mentions both nicotine-containing and nicotine-free tobacco products.
