FIVAPE welcomes the withdrawal of Article 23 from the 2026 Finance Bill

The vaping industry, which is independent of the tobacco industry, users, doctors, and tobacco experts who rallied against the measures on vaping products in Article 23, have won their case.

The new version of the 2026 finance bill has just been made public. Article 23 and all the restrictive measures on vaping products it contained have been completely removed from the text. Thousands of professionals in the sector and the 250,000 signatories of the petition should soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief with the removal of this existential threat, achieved following an unprecedented participatory advocacy campaign.

The process is not yet complete. The bill must continue its journey through the Senate, then return to the National Assembly for a final presentation. The government will also face several motions of censure before the process is complete. At the heart of the discussions, the FIVAPE teams remain extremely vigilant and active in the face of lobbies and special interests that are already expressing their dissatisfaction and will not give up until the budget is finally adopted.

The Confederation of Tobacconists, publicly regretting this removal, is sending a clear signal: it intends to confiscate vaping from its creators and lock it into the deadly logic of tobacco. This is ironic, given that many tobacconists do not want this regulation. The same is true for certain minority players in the French vaping industry who have publicly supported approval by the French Ministry of Finance in the name of vaping, despite their lack of representativeness in the sector.

These contradictory signals should not prevent the adoption of the draft finance bill without Article 23. At this stage, FIVAPE would like to thank parliamentarians and the government for withdrawing this article, which must now be confirmed definitively.

Media exposure and clarification

The past three months have been particularly challenging for the independent sector, its thousands of employees, and business leaders who work every day for the public good by helping millions of French people quit smoking.

If everything ends as we hope, FIVAPE will be able to congratulate itself on having achieved exceptional mobilization and media and political exposure for the vaping industry in France, which is absolutely necessary for a constructive and informed dialogue on the benefits and risks of vaping in the face of the scourge of tobacco.

The positions and interests of stakeholders have been clarified. The specific status of the independent sector vis-à-vis the tobacco industry and its allies is recognized, and its views are heard and supported.

Independent vaping in the face of predatory practices in the tobacco industry

Due to a lack of consultation and preparation by the public authorities since the beginning of this process, the independent sector has been fighting for its survival in the face of tobacco profits.

Let us recall the harmful elements of this Article 23:

• The ban on online sales, which would destroy 4,000 jobs across all territories and cut off access to products for millions of consumers who are in the process of quitting smoking.
• The introduction of a punitive tax on smoking cessation, which would effectively enshrine the emergence of a virtual monopoly on manufacturing and transportation in the hands of Big Tobacco.
• Restrictions on distribution channels, which would stifle the independent sector to the benefit of the tobacconist network.

FIVAPE: the representative and legitimate point of contact

Recognized as the number one tool to help people quit smoking by all scientific and observational studies, vaping must be protected by appropriate regulation, in the general interest and for public health.
To this end, FIVAPE has been putting forward specific and constructive proposals for several years to clarify the market and protect users.

Hundreds of companies have joined us in recent weeks, bringing the number of member organizations to over 1,000. More than ever, FIVAPE is the sole representative of the vaping industry. It calls on public authorities and parliamentarians to take up its concrete proposals to regulate this market.

From day one, the mobilization was historic: a petition that gathered nearly 250,000 signatures, demonstrations, hundreds of exchanges with decision-makers, unprecedented and impactful media campaigns...

This exceptional commitment must now come to a successful conclusion in order to guide and strengthen the independent sector. 14 million people still smoke in France. We are at the forefront of helping them quit.