On July 16, 2025, the European Commission proposed a revision of the Tobacco Products Tax Directive, introducing for the first time a tax framework to overtax e-liquids.
Popular and effective, vaping is the No. 1 smoking cessation aid in France. Despite a climate of anxiety and misinformation that has intensified in recent years, vape continues to have a major beneficial impact on public health.
The pretext of a diablerie to make young people smoke again, unproven1 despite the fears and moral panic we've been perpetuating for 15 years, doesn't hold water in the face of 15 million smokers in immediate danger of disease and death: tobacco accounts for 75,000 deaths every year.
Already subject to 20% VAT, the principle of an additional tax on the No. 1 smoking cessation aid, like any attack on its appeal and effectiveness, is indecent.2.
Unlike 19 other EU countries, it's precisely in France that there are no surcharges for quitting smoking via vaping. This singular, pragmatic stance must be defended, as everywhere in Europe3 where there are restrictions on vape (taxes, flavors, etc.), the decline in smoking has stopped or slowed, including among the younger generation.
But there are now so many of these countries that it is to be feared that a tax demanded by the EU is inevitable. In this case, it's vital for France that the tax starts at €0. This would preserve its freedom not to sabotage vaping, one of the best tools for smoking cessation, and, by extension, the independent vape industry in the face of the onslaught of the tobacco lobbies.
The objective is a common-sense one: to enable member states who so wish to include vaping in their anti-smoking policies, without putting tax pressure on this tool. Let's not forget that the stakes are very different from one EU country to another. An identical, flat-rate tax on vaping makes no sense in terms of health between France, where 30% of the population still smoke, and Sweden, where only 8% do!
The tobacco industry in the driver's seat
It's time to open our eyes and react! All plans to hinder the growth of vaping are ultimately tobacco industry maneuvers.
An additional tax based on milliliters would have a 6-fold greater impact on the open vaping of the independent sector than on the ultra-polluting sealed disposable cartridges of vapo-cigarette makers, already strangely exempt from the puff ban law. What's more, the administrative complexity and costs involved in implementing a new tax would penalize independent SMEs far more than tobacco multinationals.
In France, independents still hold 85% of the vape market, offering unique resistance to the tobacco industry. Last autumn, FIVAPE commissioned an impact study from XERFI. In the event of an additional tax per milliliter, the economic agency predicted at least 30% bankruptcies. 4,000 companies and 20,000 direct and indirect local jobs are at risk.
Political choice
France is therefore faced with a twofold political choice, with both health and the economy at stake:
- protect the appeal of vape, the 1st smoking cessation tool to help smokers quit;
- not to destroy the French independent sector for the benefit of the tobacco industry.
Instead of yielding to the influence of those who are solely responsible for the leading cause of avoidable death, and who want to slow it down so as not to lose any more smokers, or deviate from it by targeting young people, the independent sector offers ethical and responsible vaping, aimed at smoking cessation, with effective, quality-controlled French products, which innovate and create thousands of local jobs.
Reminder: vape is already taxed at 20% VAT
The scientific consensus is that vaping is 2 to 3 times more effective than nicotine substitutes4particularly among the most vulnerable5. At 20% VAT, the No. 1 smoking cessation aid is already taxed twice as much as non-prescription drugs, and 10 times more than those reimbursed by prescription.
Type of nicotine substitute | VAT rates |
Reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie (on prescription) | 2,1 % |
Non-reimbursed (without prescription) | 10 % |
Non-pharmaceutical products (e-liquids...) | 20 % |
EU proposal: a tax of 0.12 to 0.36 euros per millilitre
On July 16, 2025, the European Commission published its proposal to revise the Tobacco Products Tax Directive, introducing for the first time a framework for a new tax on e-liquids.
- EU Press release: European Commission modernizes tobacco taxation directive
- EU proposal: COUNCIL DIRECTIVE on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to tobacco and tobacco related products (recast)
- Decrypted by the Vaping Post: The European Commission publishes an official directive to tax electronic cigarettes
The proposal is to apply a tax on e-liquids of €0.12 per milliliter up to a nicotine level of 15 mg/ml, and €0.36 per milliliter above this level. High nicotine doses, i.e. those most useful for smoking cessation, would thus be taxed 3 times more.
Smoking kills 700,000 people a year in Europe, and the EU's stated objectives for a tax on vaping are :
- the fight against smoking ;
- the fight against fraud ;
- ensure market consistency across the EU ;
- contribute to Europe's cancer plan.
This proposal reflects a technocratic approach disconnected from realities on the ground.6with an excessive focus on the risk of "gateway products" for young people7without taking into account the net benefits for adult smokers and ex-smokers. And harmonization is illusory: member states will remain free to set higher rates. The so-called "European levelling" therefore masks disparities that will remain structural.
France has veto power
Texts relating to indirect taxation, such as the tobacco excise duty directive, follow a special legislative procedure provided for in Article 113 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
Steps | Details |
1 - European Commission proposal | The European Commission draws up and presents a legislative proposal (directive, regulation, decision) after prior consultation with stakeholders (Member States, associations, experts, impact studies). |
2 - Special procedure: unanimously approved by the Board | Unlike the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision), which involves the Council of the EU and the European Parliament as equal co-legislators. In the case of indirect taxation, the Council alone decides unanimously. In other words, each member state has a right of veto. |
3 - Consultative role of the European Parliament | The European Parliament is only consulted (non-binding opinion). Its role is symbolic and political, but it cannot block or amend the final text. |
4 - Final adoption by the Board | All finance ministers (Ecofin) must agree unanimously. This often leads to lengthy negotiations and the addition of flexibility clauses, national options or adaptation periods to obtain the agreement of reluctant states. |
To remember:
France can avoid additional VAT taxation on vaping, as it has a right of veto.
It may make its agreement conditional on the inclusion of a zero-euro excise option on e-liquids, or on any differentiated clause reflecting its national public health policy.
It can also seek alliances with other countries with high smoking prevalence to build a negotiating bloc.
CONTACT: SOLENN PETITJEAN - LABEL RP - 06 85 03 05 29 - solenn.p@labelrp.com
- Drugs at age 17. Analysis of the ESCAPAD 2022 survey - https://www.ofdt.fr/publication/2023/les-drogues-17-ans-analyse-de-l-enquete-escapad-2022-562 ︎
- Pr Bertrand Dautzenberg - Nicotine taxation: the commission acts as a lobbyist for cigarette companies... INDIGNEOUS - https://x.com/PrDautzenberg/status/1946088733310115946 ︎
- Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and related products - https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2995 ︎
- How effective are medications and e-cigarettes for quitting smoking, and which works best? https://www.cochrane.org/fr/evidence/CD015226_how-effective-are-medications-and-e-cigarettes-quitting-smoking-and-what-works-best ︎
- Expert reaction to study suggesting vapes are more effective for quitting smoking than gum or lozenges including in disadvantaged groups - https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-study-suggesting-vapes-are-more-effective-for-quitting-smoking-than-gum-or-lozenges-including-in-disadvantaged-groups/
︎ - "It's nonsense, they want people to go back to smoking," laments Dr Marion Adler, a tobaccologist in the Paris region, on RMC - https://rmc.bfmtv.com/actualites/societe/sante/l-ue-veut-taxer-le-liquide-des-cigarettes-electroniques-ils-veulent-que-les-gens-reviennent-vers-le-tabac_AV-202507180149.html
︎ - Systematic Review and Critical Analysis of Longitudinal Studies Assessing Effect of E-Cigarettes on Cigarette Initiation among Adolescent Never-Smokers - https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/20/6936
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