EU Regulations: Vaping, pouches & flavours

Flavours other than tobacco in vapes and nicotine pouch products are very common, and are generally regarded as pivotal to a users’ experience. This presentation will show how the vast majority of products on the market in Europe and around the world are currently non-tobacco flavours, and consumers report that such flavours are important to their experience. However, flavours have been blamed by many as the driver of youth usage, and, other than in the case of menthol cigarettes, have historically been removed from the market for combustible tobacco products in many countries around the world.

The European Union’s Tobacco Product Directive is already over 10 years old, in need of an update to reflect the changing consumer market for tobacco products, and in particular to encompass new products which were not prevalent a decade ago such as nicotine pouches. Will non-tobacco flavours be banned from the vape and nicotine pouch segments in the same way as for combustible cigarettes and heated tobacco, or will regulatory bodies recognise the role of flavours in the uptake of these products by smokers, and continue to allow them?  What are the consequences of restricting flavours to consumer behaviour and the development of illicit markets? And if the EU continues to allow flavours in these categories, what are EU Member States likely to do to further regulate the products themselves given the public concern over youth usage?