French vapers face fresh tax threat as MPs battle over nicotine rules

One proposal would impose €1.50 in excise duty on a 10ml bottle from January 2027. Others would introduce new licensing requirements for vape shops and online sellers.

The renewed tax threat comes as MPs fight over the future of nicotine pouches and tobacco sales.

A separate amendment would allow adults to buy regulated pouches through tobacconists, while a lifetime tobacco sales ban for anyone born from 2009 has won committee backing.

All three measures face further votes. The generational ban must be debated again after MPs rejected the wider social security budget in committee.

Vape tax returns to the table

The government’s initial 2027 budget contained no vape tax, giving consumers and businesses a temporary reprieve after last year’s fight over proposed levies and sales restrictions.

But MPs have brought the issue back through amendments to the finance bill. Several approaches are reportedly being considered, ranging from taxes on e-liquids to a new licensing system for retailers.

One of the most significant, tabled by Green MP Nicolas Thierry and colleagues, would impose a tax of €0.15 per millilitre from January 2027, whether or not the liquid contains nicotine.

That would mean €1.50 in excise duty on a 10ml bottle, before any wider effect on its retail price. The proposed rate would be adjusted annually for inflation from 2028.

The amendment’s supporters acknowledge that vapes can help some people stop smoking, but argue that taxation is justified by concerns about young people and non-smokers. The proposal remains listed as awaiting processing on the National Assembly’s website.

Other MPs favour creating a vape tax category with an initial rate of zero.

Amendment I-605, for example, combines that approach with approval and licensing requirements for sales. Its explanatory text says the zero rate is intended to avoid penalising consumers and businesses before European tax negotiations conclude.

A zero rate would avoid an immediate levy, but the proposed sales rules would still change how the sector operates. Under that amendment, the relevant approvals and licences would be required from July 2027.

A regulated route for nicotine pouches

Alongside the vape proposals, MP Ludovic Mendes has tabled a plan to allow regulated nicotine pouch sales through France’s tobacconist network.

His amendment to the finance bill would permit pouches containing up to 16.6mg of nicotine each, prohibit sales to under-18s and require buyers to prove their age. Stronger pouches would be prohibited.

The proposal would also introduce a tax of €22 per kilogram from March 2027, rising to €44 in 2028 and €66 in 2029.

Mendes argues that regulated access could allow pouches to play a role in reducing smoking while addressing youth use and high-strength products. His explanatory text also warns that blanket prohibition could encourage an illicit market, leaving consumers without reliable product controls.

These are the arguments behind the amendment, which has yet to be adopted.

France’s official public information service states that restrictions on the sale, possession and use of oral nicotine products took effect on 1 April 2026. It records a court suspension affecting manufacture, production and export, rather than the domestic sales restrictions.

Medicinal nicotine products used to help people stop smoking are exempt.

Lifetime tobacco sales ban faces another vote

A separate proposal would permanently bar tobacco sales to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009, even once they reach adulthood.

The National Assembly’s social affairs committee backed Thierry’s amendment during the night of 14–15 October, according to parliamentary broadcaster LCP.

If enacted in its proposed form, the restriction would begin on 1 January 2027. Retailers breaching it would face a contribution equivalent to five per cent of their tobacco sales turnover, excluding VAT, payable to France’s national health insurance fund.

The vote also exposed doubts about the proposal’s legal footing. Budget rapporteur Thibault Bazin questioned whether a tobacco sales prohibition belonged in a social security financing bill, raising the prospect of a constitutional challenge.

The committee then rejected the overall social security budget on 16 October. The bill is due to reach the full Assembly on 20 October.

Thierry has tabled the generational ban again for that stage. The committee vote therefore shows political support, but doesn’t secure the measure’s passage.