{"id":34614,"date":"2026-02-24T10:50:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=34614"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:50:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T10:50:44","slug":"who-chief-urges-ireland-to-close-eu-nicotine-loopholes-ahead-of-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/who-chief-urges-ireland-to-close-eu-nicotine-loopholes-ahead-of-presidency\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO chief urges Ireland to close EU nicotine \u2018loopholes\u2019 ahead of presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged Ireland to use its influence at EU level to tighten regulation of nicotine products, warning of \u201cstrong industry opposition\u201d from the tobacco lobby.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter dated August 22nd to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the European Union must urgently address gaps in its rules on vapes and nicotine pouches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU-wide laws are \u201cin need of an update\u201d, he wrote, citing the growing popularity of vapes and nicotine pouches among children and young people. He said it was \u201cessential to address regulatory loopholes that threaten tobacco control progress in the European Union member states\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tedros said \u201cthere remains a persistent difficulty of developing effective national regulations amid strong industry opposition\u201d<\/strong>, with politicians attempting to keep pace with what he described as a \u201crapidly evolving landscape of tobacco and nicotine products\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter, released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act along with related internal documents, thanked Ireland for its \u201congoing leadership\u201d on tobacco regulation. The forthcoming revision of EU rules \u201crepresents a critical opportunity for tobacco control\u201d globally, he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Existing EU tobacco regulations date back to 2014 and introduced measures such as prominent health warnings and graphic images on packaging. At the time, the legislation was the subject of a fierce lobbying campaign by the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, several major tobacco companies have pivoted towards newer products including vapes and nicotine pouches, which are placed between the lip and gum. Philip Morris bought Swedish Match, maker of the nicotine pouch brand ZYN, in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal Department of Health briefing notes show that a revision of EU rules has been delayed for several years. \u201cThis has meant that multiple member states, including Ireland, have had to move ahead with their own measures,\u201d the notes state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland has introduced legislation to ban disposable vapes and extended restrictions on the sale and marketing of tobacco products to include vapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Commission is currently evaluating the existing Tobacco Products Directive before bringing forward any changes. Carroll MacNeill had hoped proposals would be published in time for Ireland to steer negotiations during its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Commission\u2019s proposal is now expected later, meaning negotiations between member states may not begin until 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the Minister, European health commissioner Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi acknowledged the \u201cgrowing concern\u201d about increased vape use among young people. He wrote: \u201cThere is no doubt about the urgent need to address these challenges .. The commission remains fully committed to tobacco control legislation which ensures comprehensive and effective tobacco control measures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Department of Health spokesman said: \u201cIf the Commission publishes a proposal for a revision of the Tobacco Products Directive on time, Ireland will be fully committed to progressing negotiations on this proposal during our presidency in the second half of 2026.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New vape tax delivering less than half of \u2018conservative\u2019 projections<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, new figures show Ireland\u2019s vape tax is raising less than half the revenue forecast by the Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The e-liquid products tax, introduced in November at a rate of \u20ac500 per litre, was expected to generate \u20ac17 million in its first full year. The Department of Finance described this as a \u201cconservative estimate\u201d and said the projected yield was \u201cpurposely set at a lower level to avoid overestimating revenue in the initial stages of implementation of the tax\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But provisional data covering the first two months shows returns from 60 companies totalled just \u20ac1.3 million, Finance Minister Simon Harris confirmed in a parliamentary reply. That compares with \u20ac2.83 million per two-month period needed to meet the annual projection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tax Strategy Group had previously said it \u201chas proven difficult\u201d to establish the overall size of the vape market in Ireland, citing a \u201clack of information\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsible Vaping Ireland, a trade body representing vape retailers, said the use of a \u201cself-declaration system for the vape tax is clearly not robust enough, if returns are at such a shockingly low level\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It called for tax stamps to improve compliance and a \u201cclampdown on the black market\u201d to \u201censure that bad actors who are importing or selling illegal or unregulated vaping products are stopped\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Finance stressed that the figures released by Harris are provisional.<\/p>\n

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The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged Ireland to use its influence at EU level to tighten regulation of nicotine products, warning of \u201cstrong industry opposition\u201d from the tobacco lobby. In a letter dated August 22nd to Health Minister…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990005,"featured_media":34615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[329,343,186],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-34614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-union","tag-ireland","tag-nicotine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34622,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34614\/revisions\/34622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34614"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=34614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}