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As the EU considers expanding the scope of the Tobacco Excise Directive (TED) to include heated tobacco products (HTPs), nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes, a Nordic industry body is calling for each product category to be taxed according to its level of risk to incentivise smokers to try cessation tools.
Jonas Lundqvist (pictured), CEO of the Nordic Nicotine Pouches Alliance (NNPA) – who will be speaking about the regulation of pouches at the upcoming InterTabac 2025 in Germany – said this approach would also generate revenue for governments.
“A risk-related EU-level minimum tax would incentivise member states to see nicotine pouches as both harm-reduction tools and a legitimate source of fiscal revenue,” he told TobaccoIntelligence. “The EU needs to regulate in a way that doesn’t tax lower-risk products out of the market.”
The European Commission (EC)’s proposed expansion of the TED will make HTPs, nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes all subject to minimum taxes. While the policy aims to harmonise taxation across EU member states, its projected impacts vary widely among product categories but will nevertheless drive substantial tax increases.
Pouch tax in Sweden could increase seven-fold
Nicotine pouches stand to be hit especially hard, and the industry could face drastic declines in sales of legal products. In addition, governments could face a sharp drop in tax contributions and an increase of illegal products being pushed to the consumers.
The EU’s current TED proposal outlines a phased approach to harmonising minimum excise duties. From 1st January 2030, excise duties on nicotine pouches must be at least 25% of the retail selling price (inclusive of all taxes) or €71.50 per kg. By 1st January 2032, these rates will increase to 50% of the retail price or €143 per kg, adjusted for inflation under article 12.
“This is higher than the level in any of the countries that are already taxing nicotine pouches,” said Lundqvist, “it is also around seven times higher than the tax we have in Sweden and would risk taxing the product out of the market, particularly where nicotine pouches have not yet been fully established.”
The NNPA is concerned that misinformation might be driving EU policy-makers to come down harshly on nicotine pouches. Lundqvist cites a leaked proposal from an EU consultant ahead of the review of EU legislation around product regulation that included a recommendation to extend the ban on snus to nicotine pouches.
While an EU-wide ban is unlikely, it’s possible, and according to Lundqvist, the leaked proposal revealed gaps in policy-makers’ knowledge.
Swedish member of the European Parliament Charlie Weimers published a copy of the EU consultant’s proposal on X, which praised “the success of the snus ban”, as well as recommending extending it to nicotine pouches.
Impact of pouches in Sweden
“The numbers speak clearly: we’re in our own league in Sweden in terms of statistics for lung cancer,” said Weimers. “In some age groups, the smoking prevalence is less than 5%. We’ll be one of the first smoke-free countries very soon.”
Lundqvist believes nicotine pouches brought real change in Sweden because they provided a cleaner alternative to snus. Traditionally, snus was sold loose. This meant it had to pressed into a ball: a messy process that would often stain the fingers. Most snus is now pre-packaged, but nicotine pouches are even cleaner to use and are becoming popular with young adult men and the female population looking for alternatives to cigarettes. A report from the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN) found that the percentage of female users of snus (all types) rose between 2007 and 2023, from about 4% to 13% .
“There has been particularly rapid growth of nicotine pouches among young adult women, as reflected in both CAN reports and other statistics,” said Lundqvist. “Men still use snus more than women overall, but women’s usage – particularly of nicotine pouches as a substitute to cigarettes – has increased significantly and is approaching men’s levels.”
Lundqvist cites statistics from 2024 that show about 26% of 17- to 29-year-olds used nicotine pouches in the past month, and men and women in equal numbers. Data from 2022 indicated that nearly one in five women aged 16 to 29 used nicotine pouches.
Addressing knowledge gaps among policy-makers
“Knowledge levels around the risk profile of snus and nicotine pouches are quite low outside the Nordic countries,” he said. “At the NNPA we’re trying to inform EU policy-makers to ensure they understand these relatively new products.”
He added: “If adults would like to use nicotine, every politician should give them the option to do so in a less harmful way, in accordance with appropriate regulation. Nicotine and tobacco are not the same, but some campaigners treat them as such.”
To alleviate concerns around youth usage, the NNPA is calling for tighter regulation on marketing and packaging that could appeal to younger consumers, as well as age restrictions on purchases, with consequences for those who sell to under-age consumers.
“Our main challenge is that under-age people are keen on trying new products like pouches in the same way we tried cigarettes when we were young,” said Lundqvist.“But banning flavours isn’t the answer, because pouches without flavour fail to satisfy adult consumers. The answer is to ensure that products aren’t marketed in a way that appeals to children.”
Allowing products with up to 15 mg to 20 mg of nicotine per pouch (by setting a ceiling on nicotine concentration at this level) is also important, because if the levels are too low, the products are ineffective as smoking replacements.
Responsibility of manufacturers
“A small number of irresponsible producers are taking advantage of the lack of regulation by putting too much nicotine in their pouches, so their products are too strong,” he said. “But the flip side of this is that products with such low levels of nicotine wouldn’t satisfy a smoker considering pouches.”
“We’re reaching out to the industry to inform manufacturers about packaging and nicotine levels. We need members of the supply chain to be willing and committed to act responsibly,” he stressed, “and it’s important that producers see products as risk-reduction tools before short-term profit generators.”
Overall, the NNPA has seen a positive response from manufacturers it has met with. Lundqvist says most of them realise that acting irresponsibly – by, for example, promoting overly strong products with a cartoon on the box – will ultimately result in a ban.
Lundqvist says it’s not so easy to get policy-makers in the room, however, as many of them default to the World Health Organisation’s prohibitionist stance and use that as a reason not to meet.
“Of course, there are knowledge gaps, you still meet some politicians who believe nicotine pouches are as dangerous as cigarettes,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do in informing them about the actual risks and where nicotine pouches fall on the scale and why.”
Need for strict regulatory framework
He added: “The products are not risk free, nor are they intended for vulnerable groups and underage people and shouldn’t be consumed by them. That’s why we need firm regulation. But I believe we can regulate pouches in a way that would work for producers, policy-makers and consumers.”
The NNPA remains optimistic and believes policy-makers are progressing in the right direction.
“We’ve seen a few reports from the European parliament that have acknowledged harm reduction and the importance of evaluating the risks,” Lundqvist said. “But we’ve also seen negative developments in countries such as France and Spain, for example.“
He acknowledges there is still a lot of work to be done, but says: “I believe very much in this product – the bags are much simpler and more convenient to use than vaping and heat-not-burn products, which you need to refill, charge, etc. It’s complicated to find the formula to make a good pouch but, once you’ve solved that, there’s so much potential in this market.”
- Jonas Lundqvist will be speaking at InterTabac 2025 at the Messe Dortmund from 18th to 20th September 2025.
– TobaccoIntelligence staff
Photo: Jonas Lundqvist
