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The Dutch government on Friday said it would ban the sale of all types of nicotine pouches in the Netherlands, while widening the rules for tobacco to include all other types of tobacco-free nicotine products.

The government said the ban would make it easier to uphold the rules regarding nicotine pouches, which are currently only allowed if they contain less than 0.035 grammes of nicotine.

The new rules will also prohibit the use of nicotine pouches and other tobacco-free nicotine products in places where smoking is not allowed.

Dutch parliamentarians want e-cigarettes and vapes to have a boring and uniform appearance. According to the D66, which will submit this proposal in parliament on Wednesday, this will make vaping less attractive to teenagers. A majority in parliament supports the plan, RTL Nieuws reports.

“Young people now think it’s cool to have such an accessory with glitter while vaping is extremely unhealthy,” D66 parliamentarian Jeanet van der Laan told the broadcaster. “The vapes resemble a lip gloss or a marker. They are often colorful, and there are vapes full of glitter. Parents often have no idea exactly what the young people are carrying. Super worrying.”

The Dutch government has launched a consultation on legislation to ban nicotine pouches. The consultation ends on 16 January. The European Commission has already signalled that it would like an EU wide ban on nicotine pouches. If individual member states, such as the Netherlands, ban pouches, an EU wide ban becomes far more likely.

Nicotine pouches are becoming increasingly popular with people seeking safer alternatives to smoking. It is morally wrong to deny people who smoke access to products which are less harmful to their health.

The NL government’s rationale for the ban relies on the same tired old arguments we see used against vaping. The ban is based on ideology, not on sound science.

The Netherlands will ban all e-cigarette flavors except tobacco on October 1 next year, according to an amendment the government published in the Staatscourant. From then, there will be no more banana, biscuit, or fruit loops flavored vape liquids or e-cigarettes, only a limited number of tobacco flavors. The ban also covers pre-filled e-cigarettes and disposable vapes. The government announced in 2020 that it planned to ban flavored e-cigarettes and vapes because they see it as a stepping stone for teenagers toward actual cigarettes. Now it’s clear that stores will have until 30 September 2023 to sell their existing stocks.

There are ‘strong indications’ that filter cigarettes on sale in the Netherlands may break official EU limits on tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide, judges in Rotterdam said on Friday. The ruling, which derives from a European Court of Justice ruling in February, gives the Dutch food and product safety board NVWA six weeks to start ensuring the law is followed properly and that cigarettes do not exceed EU limits. The court case follows tests carried out by public health institute RIVM in 2018 which showed the amount of tar in a cigarette can be up to 26 times the official norm and that nicotine and carbon monoxide levels are also far too high in most brands.

A proposed Dutch flavour ban has tobacco harm reduction advocates scrambling, prompting questions as to why the Netherlands doesn’t instead follow Sweden’s example when it comes to regulating nicotine products.

Consumers and interest groups have until September 28 to respond to a consultation launched by the Dutch government’s proposed amendments to the country’s tobacco laws.

The changes would outlaw all but 16 “approved” substances that could be used to make tobacco-flavoured e-liquids. Not only would all current e-liquids on the market be banned, but the proposed changes would also outlaw the development of any new flavours unless they rely on the approved substances.

Health experts and foundations are calling on the Cabinet to strengthen its anti-smoking policy as smoking becomes increasingly popular among young people. Some have called the "smoke-free generation" plan a failure, according to AD.

Almost four years into the government's extensive plan to eliminate smoking among young people and decrease adult smokers to 5 percent, experts believe it is time for urgent action. Nearly a third of young adults smoke and the number of young people who have smoked has actually increased since 2020.

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.

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 [...]

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.