Europe’s new taxes on vapes and heated tobacco – scheduled to come in from 2030 – would be significantly lower than originally proposed for vapes and heated tobacco products, under a compromise proposal tabled by Cyprus yesterday, seen by Clearing the Air and available to download here.
The proposal changes EU-wide minimum rates on a range of products, including:
- Cigarettes and rolling tobacco – astonishingly, the proposal suggests lower minimum rates for cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco. “Most delegations express the concern that the proposed rates are significantly higher than the current rates applied for cigarettes” the document states. “The Presidency has conducted an exercise comparing current rates applicable in Member States and concluded that the average is approximately 200 EUR/1000 items”. The Commission’s proposal suggested a rate of 215 EUR/1000 sticks. Rolling tobacco will see a similar reduction, from 215 EUR/kg to 200 EUR/kg.
- Longer phase-in periods – taxes on cigarettes and rolling tobacco will only reach the maximum rate in 2032, two years later than scheduled, with lower transitional rates during the intervening period.
- Heated tobacco – heated tobacco products will still see taxes of 300 EUR/kg or 100EUR/1000 sticks; down from 360 EUR/kg in the Commission’s proposal. “HTPs are considered to be the modern alternative to traditional cigarettes”, according to the proposal, with no motion of relative risk.
- Vapes – the Commission’s original structure, which levied higher taxes on products with higher nicotine content, has been stripped out completely. A new minimum of 0,20 EUR/ml has been proposed for 2030 with transitional rates in the intervening period. This is down from the Commission’s original proposal of 0,36 EUR/ml. “Since many Delegations express the concern that imposing excise duty based on nicotine content will create unnecessary workload and will make it difficult to implement the correct excise duty on various products, the Presidency suggests a unique tax rate based on quantity, irrespective of the nicotine content”, the proposal states.
- Nicotine pouches – the Commission’s proposal for a tax of 50% of the retail selling price remains unchanged in the new proposal.
The document will be discussed my Member State representatives on 21st January.
The Presidency made a tiny step back on the numbers, but the direction is still completely wrong. Nicotine users are treated as cash machines. Slightly lower rates do not change the fact that this plan will keep people smoking and punish those who try to quit with less harmful alternatives – Michael Landl, World Vaper’s Alliance
Some improvement, but a long way to go
The proposal represents a mixed bag for harm reduction. Sharp decreases on taxes levied on vapes and heated tobacco will be a relief for some, but reductions on cigarettes while leaving pouches as by far the most adversely affected category will leave many feeling cheated.
It’s sad to see the Council not properly scrutinising the Commission’s proposal or listening to Member States who support harm reduction. There’s no way the Council can come together over this kind of proposal, and it’s a sign that the Cypriot Presidency is too weak to diverge from the Commission’s line on pouches. It’s ridiculous that the rates have reduced on cigarettes but not on pouches – Markus Lindbla, Pouch Patrol
