Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval has called for nicotine pouch sales to be legalised, challenging a ban that allows people to use the products but prevents shops from selling them.
Clarinval, of the French-speaking liberal MR party, raised the proposal during federal budget negotiations. The move would open the door to legal sales of pouches and other smoke-free nicotine products, bringing in revenue through excise duties.
Belgium banned nicotine pouch sales in 2023. Its health authorities continue to list them among products that cannot be placed on the market, alongside disposable vapes.
But the ban has failed to make pouches disappear. A joint investigation by Belgian public broadcaster VRT’s Pano programme and news magazine Knack found they remained readily available through night shops, online sellers and dealers.
Clearing the Air approached Clarinval’s office for comment.
Calls for regulated sales
Consumer campaign group Considerate Pouchers has backed Clarinval’s intervention, arguing that prohibition leaves demand to be met outside a regulated domestic market.
In a blog published on 30 October, author Juan Taborcia wrote: “Legal to use, illegal to buy. It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t protect anyone.”
The group wants an over-18 sales limit, quality standards, clear nicotine labelling and products that can be taxed and traced. It also supports allowing flavours and setting a maximum nicotine content of 20mg per pouch.
The group argues that a regulated market would allow authorities to impose standards on sellers and products, while giving adult consumers a legal route to buy them.
Legal to use, illegal to buy. It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t protect anyone.
Youth access remains central to the debate. Researchers featured in the investigation raised concerns about how pouches are marketed to young people and how easily they can be used unnoticed, including in classrooms.
Pouches sit between the lip and gum, delivering nicotine without burning tobacco. Unlike snus, they do not contain tobacco leaf.
Britain restricts sales to adults
The UK offers a nearby example of keeping adult sales legal while restricting access for children.
Since 29 October, selling nicotine pouches to anyone under 18 has been an offence across the UK. Adults are also prohibited from buying them on behalf of under-18s. Government guidance explicitly includes tobacco-free nicotine pouches within the new rules.
There is also regulatory evidence supporting the potential for some pouches to reduce harm when smokers switch completely.
In January 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised 20 ZYN products after a scientific review. It found that those specific products contained substantially lower amounts of harmful constituents than cigarettes and most smokeless tobacco products, and posed a lower risk of cancer and other serious health conditions.
A review published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research in September strengthened the evidence that nicotine pouches could offer smokers a less hazardous alternative to cigarettes. The update brought the evidence base to 135 studies.
The authors concluded: “ONPs (oral nicotine pouches) are considerably less toxic than cigarettes, but their long-term health impacts remain understudied.”
Early trials suggested pouches could help smokers reduce cigarette consumption, although evidence that they help people quit completely remained insufficient.