In response to Bill No. 2726, introduced on April 28, 2026, which aims to extend plain packaging requirements to vaping products, FIVAPE is releasing today a comprehensive analysis of the economic, health, and social impacts of such a measure.
A parliamentary custom that has been ignored
Since the Organic Law of April 15, 2009, any bill introduced by the Government must be accompanied by an impact assessment detailing its economic, social, health, and environmental consequences. While this requirement does not formally apply to bills introduced by members of Parliament, it has gradually become standard practice to include an equivalent impact analysis when the bill concerns a specific economic sector or public health policy. This practice safeguards the quality of parliamentary debate and the soundness of the decisions made.
Bill No. 2726 breaks with this tradition. The bill, which aims to extend plain packaging to a sector comprising 870 companies, 25,000 jobs, and €1.6 billion in revenue—and which affects the primary method of smoking cessation used by the French for the past ten years—contains no analysis of its expected effects. No consultation with the industry was conducted. FIVAPE, which represents 85% of the market, was not involved in the preparatory work at any stage.
Key Takeaways from the FIVAPE Report
To fill this gap, FIVAPE conducted its own analysis, based on two converging sources: the observed effects of measures to denormalize vaping already implemented in Europe and Australia over the past five years (flavor bans, disposable device bans, taxation modeled on tobacco excise taxes, and exclusive distribution in pharmacies), and the November 2025 OpinionWay/FIVAPE survey (n = 3,582, including 1,000 vapers, ISO 20252 standard), which measures the French population’s attitudes toward these restrictive measures.
If implemented 18 months from now, the plain packaging policy for e-cigarettes would result in the following in France:
- an additional 900,000 to 1.3 million smokers
- a setback in the historic decline in smoking among young people
- the bankruptcy of thousands of independent specialty stores
- the bankruptcy of 50% of French e-liquid manufacturers, who are the guarantors of independence, quality, and safety
- at least 8,000 direct jobs lost
- the growth of the black market: up to 40% of sales are said to be illegal and completely unregulated…
In substance, FIVAPE had already responded with a press release on April 17. Our position remains unchanged: We oppose the proposed legislation to extend plain packaging “as withtobacco” to vaping.
The alert is now public
By publishing this note, FIVAPE is making available to lawmakers, citizens, and all public health stakeholders the impact analysis that the proposed bill should have included. At the same time, it is being officially sent today to the Minister of Health, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Directorate General of Health, Mildeca, and the relevant parliamentary rapporteurs.
The impact analysis report is available here: Vaping Plain Packaging: Assessing the Risks.
FIVAPE calls on public authorities to acknowledge and recognize the vital work of independent vaping professionals—the tobacco industry’s number one enemy and the leading contributors to the historic decline in smoking rates in France.