European Commission Targets Vaping in New Smokefree Recommendations

If the European Commission has its way, European Union member states will treat public vaping the same as smoking and restrict it almost exclusively to private residences. According to the EU's executive arm, the use of vapes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) poses risks of "significant respiratory and cardiovascular problems."

Today, the Commission released new “smoke-free environments” recommendations for policies adopted by the 27 EU member states. The Commission urges members to adjust their laws to include vaping under existing smoking restrictions, and to impose new rules on public vaping, as well as combustible tobacco smoking. 

The new recommendations—which the Commission says are intended to “better protect people from the effects of second-hand smoke and aerosols” (emphasis added)—don’t carry the force of law, but encourage (and pressure) EU members to pass vaping restrictions that meet the Commission's standards.

Nicotine consumers ignored during consultations

The European Commission is notoriously antagonistic to vaping, and is closely tied to vaping prohibitionists at the World Health Organization (WHO), and other public and private groups that refuse to acknowledge the evidence that vaping is an overwhelmingly positive public health development.

The scientific basis for the Commission’s policy advice to member states relies on multiple WHO documents and studies from slanted scientists, including a debunked paper by former University of California-San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz that suggests vaping and smoking are almost equally dangerous.

The Commission’s recommendations were adopted after an underpublicized month-long 2022 public consultation (it got 207 responses), and “targeted consultation activities” with “stakeholders.” 

Consumer advocacy consortium European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) replied to the Commission in 2023 with a detailed explanation of why it is wrong to lump products that don’t emit smoke with those that do, but ETHRA’s arguments fell on deaf ears.

Next year could be worse: a TPD battle over flavors and more

The recommendations, says the Commission, are geared toward protecting children from vapor and smoke, including vapor from nicotine-free products. If member states follow the recommendations, vaping will be banned in:

• Indoor workplaces
• Indoor public places
• Public transport 
• Outdoor recreational areas, including public playgrounds, amusement parks, swimming pools, and zoos
• Outdoor or semi-outdoor areas next or close to an establishment, including outdoor spaces of restaurants, bars, and cafes
• Outdoor or semi-open areas related to public transportation, including bus, tram and train stops and airports
• Outdoor areas associated with workplaces
• Outdoor areas of hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes
• Outdoor area of educational facilities, including universities

The Commission also urges governments to consider banning vaping and smoking in private cars carrying children and “vulnerable people,” in outdoor spaces like stadiums, and in outdoor areas adjacent to buildings with heavy foot traffic, like shopping mall entrances.

The recommendations don’t include restrictions on the use of cooking oil, the burning of coal and oil for energy, or the use of combustion engines—all of which cause life-threatening harm to many more people than secondhand smoke. Secondhand e-cigarette vapor (or aerosol) has not been proven to cause any ill health effects, yet it would be treated as though more dangerous than known causes of heart and lung disease. 

The “smoke-free environments” recommendations, while disturbing, may just be a warm-up for next year’s revision of the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). Many consumer and industry advocates expect European anti-vaping activists to propose an EU-wide vape flavor ban and possibly outright prohibition of nicotine pouches.

While no European country has an outright vape ban, eight EU countries have already passed laws prohibiting most vape flavors: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia (takes effect in 2025), Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. Spain recently completed a public consultation on proposed flavor restrictions, and health ministers from multiple EU member states have expressed support for an eventual EU-wide flavor ban.