Britain’s regulation of e-cigarettes has not, of course, been formally tied to the EU’s since Brexit. But still, the bulk of its rules are based on the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and what happens across the Channel will inevitably have an influence on what happens in the UK. Westminster may still be one of the more vape-friendly governments in the world, but even so, all the signs of the last few years are that Britain is becoming increasingly reluctant to leave the industry to its own devices (disposable or otherwise…), and in the future will be more inclined to regulate than not.
Where might it find inspiration? Well, the stance of the World Health Organization (WHO) is too vehemently anti-vaping for British tastes. The US situation is too complicated to generalise about; the underlying principles of federal regulation might be decent ones but implementation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been widely recognised as a disaster, while individual states and even counties and cities can differ a great deal in the rules they enact.
So, the EU — culturally and economically reasonably similar to Britain, and also currently working with TPD-based regulation and looking at how to move beyond that to reflect changes in the market — presents an obvious model. This doesn’t mean that the UK will necessarily follow exactly what the EU does (in fact it probably won’t in every detail), but it’s still worth keeping a close eye on what’s happening in Brussels as an indicator of how the UK’s regulatory attitudes might develop.
At the moment, the European Commission does not seem to be prioritising tobacco-related regulation, and key directives – including the TOD, Tobacco Advertising Directive (TAD) and Tobacco Excise Directive (TED) – might not be revisited until 2026.
But this delay has not quietened the ongoing debates surrounding tobacco and vaping products. Some political figures, such as commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, continue to advocate for stricter measures to curb smoking and vaping, citing their addictive nature.
Earlier this year, during a parliamentary hearing, Hoekstra said “smoking kills, vaping kills”.
Referring specifically to vaping products, he added:
“We need to do more. This is highly addictive and deliberately structured to be addictive. The sector is mercilessly lobbying for more room and knows very well that this approach only continues the problem.”
Hoekstra also suggested that flavoured e-cigarettes “seduce” young people and create a “false sense of security”. And he asserted the scientifically inaccurate claim that vaping is as deadly as smoking.
The World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) called Hoekstra’s comments an example of fear-based policy-making rather than fact-driven regulation. Alberto Gómez Hernández, policy manager at the WVA, said:
“Flavours are not a marketing ploy to attract youth; they are a vital tool for adult smokers looking to switch to safer alternatives. Higher taxes on flavoured vapes would make it significantly harder for vapers to stay away from combustible tobacco, potentially driving up smoking rates. If the EU is serious about reducing smoking rates, it must embrace harm-reduction strategies that include vaping. Spreading misinformation and imposing prohibitive taxes will only serve to protect the cigarette industry at the expense of public health.”
Hoekstra’s anti-vaping argument was not a new one, of course (and neither was Gómez Hernández’s response). Nor will it necessarily be reflected in the eventual form of any new European directive.
Yet it’s significant that it was made not by a columnist or a back-bench politician…but by a prominent commissioner. Not everyone holds these opinions, but there is no doubt they are as present as they ever have been in the mainstream of the debate, perhaps even more so than a few years ago.
So far, Britain has not made the mistake of equating “public health” with “reducing vaping”. And it’s a reasonable bet that the harm-reduction case will continue to be respected in the UK to some extent. But it would be an equally big mistake to assume that Britain is in any way immune from the vape scepticism that we are hearing from many in Europe.
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The ECigIntelligence/TobaccoIntelligence team
