France has once again delayed its ban on nicotine pouches, pushing enforcement to August 25 after seven European Union (EU) countries filed formal objections.
Originally scheduled to take effect on May 26, the proposed ban would outlaw the production, sale, import, export, possession, and use of nicotine pouches.
Under France’s draft decree, nicotine pouches would be treated as “substances vénéneuses,” placing them in the same legal category as dangerous chemicals.
Jail sentences of up to five years
If implemented as it stands, anyone caught with a pouch could face up to one year in prison or a €15,000 fine, while manufacturers or retailers would risk five-year sentences and fines of up to €375,000.
But these tough sanctions are now on hold after Romania, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Italy, and Sweden submitted “detailed opinions” under the EU’s Technical Regulations Information System.
This system triggers a mandatory pause of up to six months, during which France must either justify its plan or revise it to satisfy critics. The European Commission lists the new deadline as August 25.
The backlash from EU countries highlights a growing concern that banning safer nicotine alternatives could do more harm than good.
“Banning the very products that are reducing smoking is like throwing away the fire extinguisher while the house is still burning,” Swedish industry advocates told Snusforumet news.
Successes of harm reduction
Sweden, where nicotine pouches and traditional snus are widely available, recently became the world’s first “smoke-free” country, defined as a smoking rate below five per cent.
Advocates point to that success as proof that supporting harm reduction, rather than restricting it, is the key to cutting smoking rates.
Critics argue France’s plan would have the opposite effect, warning it could protect the cigarette market while criminalising safer alternatives.
France has already banned flavoured disposable vapes and is expanding smoke-free zones to include areas where children gather. Health officials say the pouch crackdown fits within that broader strategy.
‘Preserving public health’
The government in France has said it believes the ban is necessary to protect public health. “In view of the attractiveness, harmfulness, dependence and method of use, the French authorities consider that the prohibition of the production, manufacture, transport, import, export, possession, offering, transfer, acquisition, distribution and use of products for oral use containing nicotine is justified in order to achieve the objective of preserving public health”, it said in its submission to the European Commission.
But pouch manufacturers disagreed, with the Nordic Nicotine Pouch Alliance saying: “Nicotine pouches are among the least harmful forms of nicotine delivery. They contain no tobacco, no combustion, and no carcinogenic substances. Their risk profile is on par with medicinal nicotine products like gums or patches.”
