Smoking in Netherlands
In the Netherlands, smoking is legal but should follow tobacco control regulations. Cigarettes are regulated as tobacco products that can be sold through retail outlets, including online sales, while purchases through vending machines are not permitted. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a trade license. However, health warnings on packaging are mandatory, the legal minimum age for purchase is 18 years, and smoking in public places face restrictions. Also, a complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertising is in place. Cigarettes in the Netherlands are taxed at a total rate of 76.95%, including an excise rate of 54.59%. Smoking continues to pose a substantial public health burden in the Netherlands. In 2024, the number of current smokers among adults aged 15 years and older was approximately 3.0 million. This represents an overall adult smoking prevalence of 19.3%. In the same year, smoking prevalence was higher among males (22%) than among females (16.7%). This prevalence was 20.1% in 2022. In 2023, the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was reported to be 8.4%, with an estimated 2.2 million daily smokers. In 2021, smoking caused approximately 21,306 deaths in the Netherlands, including 13,186 deaths among males and 8,120 among females. This shows that overall, tobacco smoking accounted for 12.55% of all deaths in the country in 2021, including 15.49% of all male deaths and 9.59% of all female deaths.
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February 23, 2022 by dutchnews.nl
Anti-tobacco campaigners welcome EU court ruling on tar checks
An EU method for testing how much tar, nicotine and other chemicals are emitted by cigarettes has never been formally published in the European rule book and so it is up to local courts what to do with it, the European Court of Justice has decided. The case stems from a complaint made by anti-smoking groups in the Netherlands, who had asked judges in Rotterdam in 2018 to ban the technique because it provided inaccurate information about what smokers were actually inhaling. Wanda de Kanter , a lung specialist and chairwoman of the campaign group Rookpreventie Jeugd, said the European court ruling cleared the way to change the measuring system.
November 30, 2021 by vapingpost.com
Netherlands’ Protests Highlighting The Importance of Vape Flavours
Earlier this year, a public consultation about the proposal to ban flavours was meant to close on the 19th of January, but had been extended to the 2nd of February. A statement published on the Netherlands’ Government website, had revealed that the consultation was extended “due to popular demand.” In line with this, a press release by the WVA had highlighted that the country had witnessed the largest number of responses ever collected in a public consultation on health matters. More importantly, an overwhelming majority of the responses, 98.54%, had opposed the ban. This equated to 746 responses out of the total 757 submissions [...]
May 26, 2021 by filtermag.org
Why an Impending Flavor Ban in the Netherlands Matters for All Vapers
Back in June 2020, the Dutch State Secretary for Health, Paul Blokhuis, announced that he wanted to ban all non-tobacco vape flavours in the Netherlands. Even though consumers raised their voices and expressed their outrage against the ban, the Dutch government is now pushing on with its plan—ignoring impacted citizens and health experts alike.
This should be of great concern to all vapers around the world. [...] If such a country bans flavors, it is almost certain that there will be knock-on effects for other EU member states, as well as at a WHO level, with the FCTC COP9 conference coming up later this year.
May 21, 2021 by vapingpost.com
The Netherlands: Light Show in Protest of Proposed Flavour Ban
A public consultation on the recently announced flavour ban was meant to close on the 19th of January, but has been extended [...] A statement published on the Government website, had revealed that the consultation was extended “due to popular demand.” In line with this, a press release by the WVA has pointed out that the country is seeing the largest number of responses ever collected in a public consultation on health matters. More importantly, an overwhelming majority of the responses, 98.54%, opposed the ban, equating to 746 responses out of the total 757 submissions recorded on the official website until now.
February 24, 2021 by vapingpost.com
Experts Share Evidence About Flavours in Submission to Dutch Government
A public consultation on the recently announced flavour ban which was originally meant to close on the 19th of January, had been extended to the 2nd of February. The Government website stated that this extension was granted “due to popular demand.”
In line with this, a press release by the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) had pointed out that this consultation had gathered the largest number of responses ever collected in a health-related public consultation in the country. More importantly, the vast majority of the responses, at 98.54% opposed the ban, equating to 746 responses out of the total 757 submissions recorded on the official website until now.
January 28, 2021 by clivebates.com
Will the Netherlands become the next casually negligent ally of the cigarette trade? Twenty-four experts advise a rethink
The government of the Netherlands, led by Paul Blokhuis, State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport, is in imminent danger of fooling itself into becoming an unwitting ally of the cigarette trade. By taking measures to make vaping less attractive (notably by proposing a ban on all non-tobacco flavours for e-cigarettes), it threatens to degrade the appeal of a low-risk rival to cigarettes, provide regulatory protection to the cigarette trade, prolong smoking, obstruct quitting, and add to the burden of disease and death. [...]
January 27, 2021 by vapingpost.com
The Netherlands’ Public Consultation on Flavour Ban Extended
A public consultation on the recently announced flavour ban was meant to close on the 19th of January, but has been extended to the 2nd of February. The Independant European Vape Alliance (IEVA) the only pan-European association aimed at uniting national associations and businesses in the European vaping industry, is pointing out that the proposed measure, which would leave only tobacco flavours available for sale, risks pushing ex-smoking vapers back to using combustible tobacco.
January 15, 2021 by dpa.com
E-Cigarettes flavours ban in the Netherlands endangers Public Health
Around 65 percent of adult vapers in Europe use fruit or sweet liquids. The
variety of flavours is one of the most important reasons for smokers to switch to e-cigarettes and
for vapers not to go back to smoking.
Without paying attention to this fact, the Dutch State Secretary Paul Blokhuis has announced to ban
all e-cigarette flavours except tobacco flavours in the Netherlands, as they are supposedly
particularly attractive to young people.
December 10, 2020 by dutchnews.nl
Cigarette display ban is flouted as big tobacco makes illegal payments to stores
Ten different tobacco companies have been making illegal payments to Dutch supermarkets to encourage them to display and sell their products in a certain way, the Dutch food and product safety board NVWA said on Thursday.
The payments varied between €10,000 to €2m a year, junior health minster Paul Blokhuis told MPs in a briefing. [...] ‘It is extremely worrying that supermarket chains are receiving payment from tobacco producers in order to promote the sale of cigarettes and associated products,’ he said.
November 20, 2020 by dutchnews.nl
Cigarettes will disappear from supermarket shelves in 2024
Cigarettes and rolling tobacco will no longer be sold in supermarkets from 2024 and ministers are likely to confirm the decision at Friday’s cabinet meeting, ministerial sources have told broadcasters NOS and RTL Nieuws. The measure is the latest by the government to try to reduce smoking and the availability of cigarettes. Since last month, cigarettes have been sold in identical brown packaging and are hidden from public view in all but specialist outlets.