Daily news alerts / BELGIUM

Canada: The new Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging, and Labelling Regulations have been published in the Canada Gazette and will come into force on 1st August. Changes include rotating health-related messages and larger health warnings for heated tobacco products. Health warnings will also be required on individual cigarettes.

Ukraine: The parliamentary Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Committee has recommended the adoption of bill 9315, which would prohibit the sale of tobacco products, including heated and chewing tobacco, in Duty Free shops, media reports. The measure will be temporary, up to end of martial law or the state of emergency. If adopted, it will come into force on the first day of the month following its publication.

Lithuania: The parliamentary Health Affairs Committee has approved a bill to amend the Tobacco Control Act by banning flavoured heated tobacco products, media reports. If adopted by parliament, the Seimas, it will come into force on 23rd October, fulfilling EU Commission Delegated Directive 2022/2100.

India: Netflix, Amazon and Disney reportedly met last Friday to explore a possible legal challenge to the rules issued by the Ministry of Health on 31st May obliging streaming platforms to display anti-tobacco warning messages whenever a tobacco product or its use is shown, from 31st August. The companies say the rule could force them to stop offering their services in India as they would have to modify and edit millions of hours of old web content in order to comply.

Malaysia: Health minister Zaliha Mustafa said today that the Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill 2022, which seeks to ban the sale of tobacco and vaping products to anyone born on or after 1st January 2007, is scheduled to be retabled in Parliament on 12th June for a first reading, after gaining the support of the cabinet last week, press reports.

Finland: The leaders of a number of health organisations, including the Finnish Association for Substance Abuse Prevention (EHYT), have written an open letter to retail operators urging them not to sell nicotine pouches while regulation is in the process of being rewritten, media reports.

Czech Republic: President Petr Pavel yesterday signed into law a bill introducing the flavour ban for heated tobacco products as required by the EU. The bill will come into effect on 23rd October.

Russia: Bill 310882-8 on the regulation of production and circulation of tobacco and nicotine-containing products has passed its third reading in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, and now heads to the Federal Assembly. Among other things, it would introduce state licensing of production, storage, import and export of tobacco and nicotine-containing products, including raw materials. It would also establish mandatory state registration of the main technological equipment used for the production of such products. If adopted, licensing will be mandatory from 1st March 2024.

Bulgaria: A draft law to amend the Law on Tobacco and Related Products has been released for public consultation. The draft transposes EU Directive 2022/2100, banning heating tobacco flavours and adding packaging restrictions, depending on whether the product is considered smokeless or for smoking. The consultation ends on 14th June.

Spain: European Parliament members (MEPs) Nicolás González Casares and Domènec Ruiz Devesa of the Spanish Socialist Party, have urged the European Commission to regulate novel tobacco products, press reports. González Casares said “the new tobacco devices seek to create a new generation of addicts using electronic elements”. The two MEPs have jointly sent two formal questions to the Commission: the first about the discrepancies among EU countries on public vaping restrictions, calling for an EU-wide ban; the second seeking an explanation for the delay in the review of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and denouncing a “lack of clarity and rigour” in the EU approach towards e-cigarettes and heated tobacco.

Canada: Health Canada has announced the approval of the new Tobacco Products Appearance, Packaging, and Labelling Regulations, drawn up following public consultations last summer. Changes include rotating health-related messages and larger health warnings for heated tobacco products, covering 75% of the packaging. Health warnings will also be required on individual cigarettes, making Canada the first country to implement such a restriction. The regulations are set to be published in the Canada Gazette next week.

Vietnam: National Assembly member Nguyen Anh Tri has proposed a ban on the sale, distribution and use of “new generation cigarettes”, such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, press reports. Ministries are currently coordinating efforts to regulate such products, with a proposal expected to be submitted to the government by the end of June.

France: A bill to regulate the activities of influencers on social media and electronic platforms, banning any direct or indirect promotion of nicotine-containing products, has been approved by a joint committee after the National Assembly and the Senate were unable to reach agreement on the details. The bill was accelerated, enabling it to be approved after just one reading in each chamber. The exact date of its entry into force is still uncertain.

Slovenia: Ahead of tomorrow’s World No Tobacco Day (31st May), the Ministry of Health has published a statement on progress towards a “Slovenia free of tobacco and nicotine 2040” envisaged in the National Tobacco Strategy 2022-2030. The ministry warns against new tobacco and nicotine products, and cites plans, currently under discussion by ministers, to bring nicotine pouches under the tobacco law, to classify heated tobacco products as smoking products, and to transpose the EU-wide heated tobacco flavour ban into national law.

Americas: Ahead of tomorrow’s World No Tobacco Day (31st May), Jarbas Barbosa, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), has warned that novel tobacco and nicotine products “threaten to undo decades of gains against tobacco use”. He said: “The tobacco industry and its allies do not rest. Currently, they spread a lot of misleading information that promotes, especially among young people, the use of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.”

Turkey: The re-election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to a third term as president, while the People’s Alliance led by his Justice and Development (AKP) party secured a majority in Parliament, is unlikely to lead to any opportunity for a legal market in heated tobacco. In 2017, Parliament, led by the AKP, failed to pass a bill to legalise heat-not-burn tobacco products. However, in 2020 the AKP passed Law No. 2149/2020 banning the use and circulation of heated tobacco.

Germany: In answer to a question put by Bundestag member Rita Hagl-Kehl of the governing Social Democratic Party (SPD), state secretary Ophelia Nick said the commissioner for addiction and drug issues, Burkhard Blienert, had announced that he would work to restrict tobacco advertising and that existing regulations on the marketing and sponsorship of nicotine would be reviewed.

Germany: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment have notified through the European Commission’s TRIS database an ordinance on the tax rates and points system for the disposable plastics fund, which affects tobacco filters containing plastic. The ordinance sets an annual fee of €8,972 per kg. The standstill period ends on 30th August.

France: Health minister François Braun has once again expressed his intention to raise the excise duty on heated tobacco products through the 2024 Social Security Financing Bill, which is likely to be presented this autumn. The minister stated his goal of aligning the taxation of heated tobacco with that of traditional tobacco products.

Finland: The industry association Vapers Finland has criticised the latest government proposal on nicotine pouches. The government intends to add a definition of “smokeless nicotine products” to the Tobacco Act, covering nicotine pouches and regulating them in the same manner as snus. This would mean a ban on their sale and distribution, and on importation except for specific exemptions. The comment period on the proposal ended last week.

Australia: The government of Queensland has passed legislation to strengthen the state’s anti-smoking and illicit tobacco laws and their enforcement. The Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Amendment Bill 2023 introduces a licensing scheme for the sale of tobacco, expands the list of non-smoking areas and imposes tougher restrictions on cigarette and vape sales at licensed venues. The bill also introduces fines of AUD43,125 ($28,000) for supplying and AUD20,125 ($13,000) for storing illicit tobacco.

Switzerland: Following the adoption of the people’s initiative “Children without Tobacco”, which calls for a ban on tobacco and vaping advertising aimed at children and adolescents, the Federal Office of Public Health has presented a fact sheet revealing that the advertising ban set down in the Tobacco Products Act is to be extended to all print media and points-of-sale. Online advertising will remain legal as long as an age-verification system is in place. The initiative is expected to be implemented in 2026.

Czech Republic: The Ministry of Finance has published a bill which would introduce a tax of CZK3.45 (€0.15) per g on nicotine pouches from January 2024, and increase the tax on heated tobacco to CZK3,300 (€140) per kg, with further rises to follow.

Uzbekistan: A bill to regulate novel tobacco and nicotine products and ban their sale to under-21s has been signed by president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, media reports. It should come into force three months after its official publication, which has not yet taken place.

Switzerland: The National Council Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation has submitted a motion calling on the Federal Council to draft a report on the taxation of tobacco products and e-cigarettes. It says the report should address issues such as the categorisation of new products, the impact of taxes on the black market, and tax adjustments based on average market prices. Earlier this year, during a debate on amending the Tobacco Tax Act, the Committee for Social Security and Health called for tax to be extended to all tobacco and related products.

Belgium: British American Tobacco (BAT) is to take a challenge to Belgium’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, against the royal decree banning nicotine pouches, press reports. BAT will argue that health minister Frank Vandenbroucke did not wait for an opinion from the Superior Health Council and did not take into account recent scientific research on the subject before announcing the ban, which is due to come into effect on 1st October.

Lithuania: The Seimas (parliament) has approved the government’s 12-year agenda on drug, tobacco and alcohol control, which aims to reduce supply and consumption, media reports. The document recommends that controls should be prepared and implemented at municipal level.

US - federal: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) has hired its first senior advisor for health equality. Charlene Le Fauve has 25 years’ experience of federal work related to health equality, dedicating her career to “advancing health equity and the health of under-served and under-represented populations through research and research workforce development”.

India: The Health Ministry has called for stricter enforcement of the statutory ban, which covers manufacturing, import, export, distribution and advertising of heated tobacco devices as well as e-cigarettes, including parts and accessories, press reports.

Ukraine: Bill 9315, prohibiting the sale of tobacco products, including heated and chewing tobacco, in duty-free shops, has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament). If adopted, it will come into force on the first day of the month following its publication and remain in force as a temporary measure until the end of martial law or the state of emergency.

Czech Republic: The Ministry of Health has told TobaccoIntelligence that the ministerial decree on nicotine pouches, setting a limit of 12 mg of nicotine per pouch and regulating labelling and notification, has gone through the EU’s TRIS notification process without comment and is expected to come into force on 1st July. From that date, tobacco-free nicotine pouches must be notified to the Czech Republic via the EU Common Entry Gate (EU-CEG).