Denmark has announced plans to limit the number and opening hours of vape retailers.
The proposed legislation would also apply to shops selling tobacco and other nicotine products. The move is intended to reduce the access of children and young people to cigarettes, vapes and nicotine pouches.
“It is important for us that we reduce the number of sales points where you can sell tobacco and nicotine,” said Denmark’s Minister of Health Sophie Løhde. “It is in itself a little bit crazy that there is almost no regulation in relation to who, how and where you can sell tobacco and nicotine.”
The government has now ordered an analysis of how to cut down on sales points “in a sensible way”.
A range of options being considered
Løhde said her department is considering a range of options including limiting locations and sales hours, requiring stores to pay expensive tobacco licenses and restricting vape sales to specialist stores only.
It comes after Denmark recently announced a strict new limit on the maximum strength of nicotine pouches, to take effect from July. The new law will be fully implemented by April 2026.
Jesper Lundberg, chairman of the Danish Association of Convenience Stores said the latest measures would simply drive the market for cigarettes and vapes underground. He branded the plans “yet another proposal that rewards those who do not comply with the rules”.
He added: “People don’t stop smoking because the government says they have to. The question is whether the supply of the goods should go to bikers or to shops that comply with the law.”
Government ‘should concentrate on illegal market’
Lundberg said that instead of coming up with new measures against legitimate sales, the government should concentrate on tackling the illegal market.
According to the Danish Health Authority, 800,000 people in Denmark smoke daily or occasionally, equating to around 17 percent of the population. Every year 16,000 Danes die from smoking.
There has been a slight decrease in the smoking rate in the past few years, but 23 percent of the population still uses at least one tobacco or nicotine product (e.g. cigarettes, vapes or nicotine pouches). Among 15 to 29-year-olds, the proportion is 32 percent.
In a study conducted by Trygfonden in 2023, 36 percent of Danes say that it is “a good proposal to ban the sale of tobacco from 2030.” This is an increase of 10 per cent since 2016.
Consequences of restricting safer alternatives to smoking
However, vape advocates warn that taking away safer alternatives to smoking will limit the chances of this target being hit.
Jannick Nytoft, director of the retailers’ trade association De Samvirkende also warned that restricting the legal sale of tobacco and nicotine will increase cross-border trade. He said he is concerned the proposal could create “unequal conditions” in the grocery industry.
Meanwhile, Charlotta Pisinger, professor of tobacco and nicotine prevention at the University of Southern Denmark, said research shows that high prices and low availability are what matter if young people are to get rid of the harmful products.
There are currently around 7000 physical stores in Denmark that sell tobacco and nicotine, with Løhde refusing to put a figure on how many outlets the government would like to cut.
She said: “On the one hand, we should not prevent Aunt Oda, 80 years old, who has smoked cigars all her life, and has a desire and an informed choice, from continuing to do so,” she said. “On the other hand, we need to tighten up in relation to children and young people.”
Potential tax rises
Although it is not the focus of the government’s new initiatives, Løhde said she won’t close the door on tobacco and nicotine products being made more expensive.
“I will not deny that there will be a need to look further at raising taxes on nicotine and tobacco,” she said. “We have already raised taxes on tobacco several times, but there is a need for us to use the entire toolbox, including control of illegal sales.”
However, she said the current analysis will focus solely on the issue of accessibility to help eliminate tobacco consumption by children and young people.
She said: “We must look at a wide range of initiatives at a national level when it comes to taxes, accessibility, effective control of illegal sales to children and young people. And of course we must also work at a European level.”
Løhde added that this applies to the upcoming revision of the Tobacco Products Directive and to ensuring more effective regulation at a European level.
The proposal to limit the number of sales points of cigarettes and nicotine products is part of the upcoming Cancer Plan Five, which the government is expected to present soon.
