A French proposal to ban vape starter packs containing nicotine has failed a parliamentary admissibility check, stopping an attempt to restrict how vaping products are sold.
Amendment 504, dated 5 November, sought to prohibit bundles combining a vaping device, a tank or cartridge, and nicotine-containing liquid, whatever its volume.
The measure was submitted by Else Joseph, a Les Républicains senator representing the Ardennes, as an addition to France’s 2027 social security financing bill.
The Senate’s official register records its status as “Irrecevable LOLFSS”, meaning it was ruled inadmissible under the rules governing social security financing legislation.
What the ban would have covered
The proposal covered marketing, sales, distribution and promotion of packs containing all three elements. It would have applied in shops and online.
Separate sales would have remained permitted. Its explanatory text argued that ready-to-use nicotine bundles, including promotional offers, could encourage people to start or continue using nicotine.
Joseph linked the restriction to reducing future health insurance spending associated with nicotine consumption. However, the text supplied no estimate of the savings it expected to achieve.
For someone buying their first nicotine vape, the practical effect would have been to prevent the equipment and liquid being offered together in the specified combination.
Why the proposal failed
France’s social security financing bills operate within a defined legislative remit. Measures inserted into them must satisfy rules about the subjects such bills can cover.
The Senate’s explanation of amendment procedures says these checks can exclude provisions that don’t belong in social security financing legislation. Responsibility for checking the social admissibility of amendments submitted for plenary consideration lies with the social affairs committee.
This means the proposal failed on procedure, without senators voting on the ban itself. The official status records a procedural obstacle. It provides no evidence that senators debated the proposed restriction and voted against it on its merits.
The amendment page gives no detailed ruling explaining how the admissibility rules were applied in this particular case. It’s therefore unclear why the argument about reducing future healthcare costs wasn’t enough for the proposal to proceed.
A similar ban could still be proposed through another bill, but this attempt cannot go any further.
Industry warned further restrictions could follow
French vaping trade association FIVAPE had already warned that the absence of vaping restrictions from the government’s initial budget proposals offered no guarantee they would stay out.
In its 8 October newsletter, president Jean Moiroud said the remaining parliamentary stages gave opponents of independent vaping further opportunities to push for restrictions.
The association’s English version states: “We are, of course, remaining very attentive and vigilant, because there is still a long way to go”.
FIVAPE represents vaping businesses independent of the tobacco industry. In the same newsletter, it encouraged smokers considering vaping to seek advice from specialist professionals and called on the sector to support France’s annual stop-smoking campaign, Mois Sans Tabac.
Evidence for helping smokers quit
The proposed restriction would have affected products that smokers use to move away from cigarettes.
Cochrane’s living review of electronic cigarettes (EC) for smoking cessation finds that nicotine vapes help more people quit than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as patches or gum.
It states: “There is high-certainty evidence that nicotine EC increase quit rates compared to NRT.”
The review examines whether people stop smoking for at least six months, giving researchers a measure of sustained quitting success. It also finds that nicotine vapes probably help more people quit than vapes without nicotine.
The NHS advises: “Nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking. It's also one of the most effective tools for quitting smoking.”
Its guidance explains that vaping exposes users to fewer toxins, and at lower levels, than cigarettes. Switching completely reduces exposure to substances associated with cancer, lung disease, heart disease and stroke.
It also recognises that switching can take time. Some people stop smoking quickly after taking up vaping, while others need longer to make the change.