There is simply a discussion in Brussels on changes to the EU Tobacco Directive. The minimum rate of excise work per cigaret package in the EU can increase even twice: from EUR 1.8 to EUR 3.6. This would lead to a level playing field between EU countries. The increase in prices would be the most severe for smokers from those countries that joined the EU in 2004, including Poland, due to the importantly lower share of excise work in the price of a cigaret packet than the fresh EU minima. A pack of cigarettes over Vistula could cost up to 40 PLN. The fresh Tobacco Directive can be opened already during the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
During the ECOFIN informal gathering of EU Ministers of Finance in Warsaw, Minister Andrzej Domański reported that Poland is not exerting force on the European Commission to accelerate work on the directive. The precedence of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council is to be securitisation.
– It is actual that the alleged Tobacco Directive has not been updated for many years. But we have no force to the European Commission on this issue, but of course there is area for further discussion on this directive. present we want to talk first of all about securitisation issues, about the savings and investment union. This is the subject we want to deal with during our Presidency – answered the question of Newseria during the briefing after the ECOFIN gathering in Warsaw Minister of Finance Andrzej Domanski.
The request to open a fresh tobacco directive is increasingly and increasingly spoken, mainly due to the evolving tobacco marketplace and its risks, especially in the context of children and young people and young adults.
In the European Commission, the revision of the Tobacco Directive is addressed by the Dutch Commissioner for Climate Affairs, Net Zero Emissions and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra. It is the Dutch government that is powerfully pushing the European Commission to velocity up its work on the beginning of the directive. Currently, the excise work on cigarettes in the Netherlands amounts to €7.66 per package and is 1 of the highest in the EU. For a pack of cigarettes around 8.27 euros (about 35 zł). In the EU, more costly cigarettes are only in Ireland and France.
The current Tobacco Directive was adopted in 2014 and has been amended respective times – late in 2022. It introduced the anticipation of prohibiting the sale of heated tobacco products with a characteristic aroma (e.g. menthol) if their marketplace share exceeds the threshold of 2.5% of the full EU sales of specified products. Implementation of the provisions of this directive in Poland was ensured by amending the Tobacco Act in February this year.
Health Minister Isabella Leszczyna argues that the same ban in the EU should besides be on the e-cigarette market.
– In the meantime, they have spread, and I would like to usage the word unfortunately, alleged electronic cigarettes, multi- and one-off cigarettes and they attract with their unusual colors, smells, and even tastes. They are unfortunately available in all kiosk, all gas station, in vending machines. They're colored, they pretend to be blueberries, strawberries, and something else, and kids get caught, colloquially speaking, in color, in taste, in smell. On the another hand, as far as the directive is concerned, if we have done something for 1 group of tobacco products, we should besides do it for those who are equally harmful and now increasingly used. I am convinced that I would like to see that possibly the Danish Presidency can do so by now - said in March during the gathering with the European Union wellness Ministers the head of the Polish wellness Ministry, Izabel Leszczyna.
The Polish government wants to limit the availability of disposable e-cigarettes and nicotine sachets for young people. The draft ban on the sale of specified products to minors has already been notified to the European Commission and is pending consideration. Under current regulations, minors in Poland can now legally buy both non-smoking e-cigarettes and nicotine sachets.
– In Poland we already have a bill notified at the minute in Brussels which prohibits these non-smoking cigarettes to children, young people under 18 – added Minister of Health.
Following the Commission's approval, the Polish government may implement provisions prohibiting the sale of specified products to persons under 18.
Even older than the Tobacco Directive is the 1 concerning excise work on tobacco products. Her last change came in 2011. However, its amendment has not been included in the European Commission's 2025 work programme. At the beginning of March, at the initiative of the Netherlands, 16 associate States sent a letter to EU wellness Commissioner Olivér Várhely, calling on him to velocity up work on tobacco legislation.
Meanwhile, changes in the excise work were adopted by the Sejm in February. According to it, the rate of excise work on vaporization equipment (multiplicity electronic cigarettes, tobacco heaters, multifunctional devices) is to be 40 PLN per piece. Excise on liquid contained in disposable electronic cigarettes will be increased by PLN 40 per one-off e-paper from 1 July 2025. In subsequent years, the level of excise work on nicotine products will increase until 2027. Excise maps besides included nicotine sachets and another tobacco-free nicotine products.
