The Swedish government has announced that it will mount a legal challenge to Spain’s proposed ban on nicotine pouches at the EU level.
Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade, Benjamin Dousa, announced that his government planned to submit what’s known as a Detailed Opinion, or DO, to the European Commission. This forces Spain to delay the implementation of its proposals for three months and respond to the Swedish government’s submission.
The Spanish proposal limits the amount of nicotine that can be contained in a pouch to a level far lower than the weakest varieties today, amounting to a de facto ban on the entire category. Spain also wants to ban all flavors except tobacco.
“White snus is not a health product, and that is why we in Sweden have regulated it”, said Dousa, “but in a situation where smoking is allowed, white snus should also be allowed”.
Dousa called the Spanish proposal “extremely far-reaching” and promised to “stand up for Swedish snus users”.
The EU has long banned snus – which contains tobacco – but Sweden is exempt from that ban under the terms of its EU Membership treaty. That protection won’t apply to nicotine pouches though, as the wording of Sweden’s accession treaty makes clear that only products containing tobacco are exempt. So if the EU wanted to ban nicotine pouches across the continent, Sweden would in principle have no choice but to implement it.
But Dousa was defiant when asked about the possibility of a ban on nicotine pouches Europe-wide. “As long as this government remains in power, we will not accept any such regulation”, he told the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
France has also submitted a proposed nicotine pouch ban, and it is likely that Sweden will also submit a Detailed Opinion on that. As we reported on Clearing the Air, the French proposal is far more extreme than that proposed in Spain. Pouch users could face five years in jail and a €375,000 fine.
