New limits on nicotine content and packaging come into effect on 1 July. Retailers will have 10 months to adapt their product range, but criticism is quick to follow.
Nicotine content and flavour are regulated
As of today, 1 July, the free choice of strength and flavour in new nicotine pouches is over. According to the new legislation, nicotine pouches can now contain a maximum of 9 mg nicotine per pouchand may only be added to either menthol flavour or artificial tobacco flavour. This is according to the government in a press release.
Standardised packaging
The new rules also impose stricter requirements for packaging. The cans, like e-cigarette products, must have the brownish-green colour Pantone 448 Cwhich health authorities call "the ugliest colour in the world". Each nicotine pouch must also be either white or beige.
Product types such as heat-not-burn - including HOT and Levia - are also covered by the packaging requirements.
Transition period for retailers
Although the rules come into effect today, dealers will have a transition period of 9 months to sell out of existing stock and adapt the range to the new legislation.
Young people are using more - despite bans
According to the Danish government, the law change is intended to "prevent the use of nicotine" among young people. However, experience from previous regulation raises questions about its effectiveness.
Following the introduction of flavour bans and anonymised packaging for e-cigarettes and e-liquid, consumption among young people under 18 almost doubled. This is criticised by the industry:
- This will not have the intended effect. Enforcement is virtually non-existent and those who want to continue using the products that will no longer be allowed to be sold next year will simply source them on the black market or from Sweden. Just as the flavour ban on e-cigarettes has made no difference to youth consumption, neither will this. The only ones who will feel the consequences are the shops selling legal products, as demand will likely disappear, says Jeanett Andersen, Communications Manager at the retailer Geyser for VapeTjek.
More problems than it solves.
The industry organisation for smoke-free nicotine products in Denmark, Nikotinbranchen, believes that the government's goal is honourable, but that the legislation is likely to create more problems than it solves.
- No minors should be allowed to consume nicotine, and this calls for much better enforcement. I fear that the flavour and nicotine restrictions will give the illegal market, which currently sells nicotine pouches online without tax and without age control, even more business. We risk seeing the same effect as with flavour restrictions on e-cigarettes, which has created the huge problem with puff bars among children and young people today. Inger Schroll-Fleischer, director of The nicotine industry.
EU Presidency and common taxes on the way
Denmark takes over simultaneously today Presidency of the EU, a position that runs until the new year. During that period, the EU is expected to consider proposals for new common Excise duties on nicotine products.
This could mean higher taxes on nicotine pouches in Denmark - and that products like nicotine-free e-liquidthat have so far been tax-free, may in future be subject to Same tax as nicotine-containing products (below 14 mg/ml).
