The European Commission has submitted a proposal to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in 27 countries of the European Union in order to reduce the growing demand for them, especially among young people.
The proposal aims for stricter anti-smoking legislation, including the use of e-cigarettes. “Nine out of 10 cases of lung cancer are caused by smoking, and therefore we want to reduce the attractiveness of smoking as much as possible in order to protect the health of our citizens and save lives,” said European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides. To achieve this, she added, stronger action was needed to reduce tobacco consumption and keep pace with developments to counter the constant flood of new products entering the market.
The Council of the European Union (the body representing the member states) and the European Parliament will examine the proposal in the next step. In 2014, a European Directive on the sale of “tobacco products” was issued, which establishes a legal basis for it in the Union territory, but developments in this market allow the authorities to change this basis.
On Wednesday, the EU executive noted a significant increase in sales of “heated tobacco products”, which amounted to 10% or more in at least 5 EU countries, which is the minimum necessary to strengthen legislation. The Commission indicated that sales of heated tobacco products increased significantly in a number of EU countries between 2018 and 2020, including France, which increased by 406%, Portugal (180%) and the Netherlands (153%).
