France has decided to push forward with its total ban on nicotine pouches, despite formal objections registered by other European Union (EU) countries. The ban will begin in March 2026, six months after the Sept. 5 publication of the health ministry’s decree in the country’s Official Journal.
The French decree not only prohibits sale, import and manufacture of nicotine pouches and other non-tobacco oral nicotine products, but also personal possession and use---a rarity among tobacco control laws in western countries with respect for individual liberty.
Protecting the kids (and cigarette sales)
The ban is justified, says the French decree, to “ensure a high level of protection of public health, and in particular of young people.” Nicotine itself is a health hazard according to the decree, and thus nicotine pouches must be banned to protect adolescents and young adults.
However, the French government apparently doesn’t believe nicotine poses dangers in more established products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or vapes—-or in nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products—-which are all exempted from the new rule.
Since the rule comes in the form of a ministerial decree, it has not been debated by the French Parliament like a proposed law would be, or subject to any serious public consultation. Unlike France’s disposable vape ban, which was passed by the Parliament after public debate, the pouch ban will simply be imposed on the French people without any opportunity for dissent.
European tobacco control and public health groups are deadset against allowing new nicotine products to take hold in the market, and their antipathy to pouches (which have not yet been regulated by the EU) seems to be the primary driver of the health ministry’s action..
Can the French pouch ban be challenged?
Seven other EU countries---Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden---submitted detailed objections after France notified the EU in February through the European Commission’s Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS). The objections created two three-month “standstill” periods, slowing down progress of the French ban.
Usually, when so many fellow EU states object to a proposed law or rule, the result is a negotiated compromise that addresses the specific issues causing the friction. In this case, France responded to the seven complaints by essentially dismissing them with a wave of its hand, daring any party to challenge the decree in the courts.
A court challenge could happen. According to Snusforumet, there are at least five holes in the French arguments against objections to its rule, which might trigger further argument in the European Commission and the European Court of Justice.
As it stands now, next year France will join Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands as the sixth EU country to ban or highly restrict the sale of nicotine pouches. Spain is also in the process of passing a nicotine limit for pouches that would essentially eliminate them from the market.
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