France is expected to ban the distribution of disposable e-cigarettes by 2025, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau declared on Tuesday.
The Minister made the statement during the launch of the National Tobacco Control Programme (PNLT), also announcing an increase in tobacco taxation.
According to a March 2023 report by the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes, including puffs (coloured disposable e-cigarettes with different flavours), tripled between 2017 and 2022.
We will ban single-use puffs […] which are an aberration both from a public health point of view and in terms of their environmental footprint.
The French National Assembly is currently considering a cross-party bill put forward by Francesca Pasquini, an environmentalist MP, to “ban single-use vaping devices.” Pasquini considers the situation an emergency as young people “discover nicotine with puffs.”
In France, 15% of teenagers have already used a puff, with 47% of them starting to become hooked on nicotine via the device, according to an ACT-Alliance contre le tabac poll released on November 14.
If the law is passed by the National Assembly and then the Senate, France will have to present its bill to the European Commission, which will have six months to approve it.
Alongside the puff ban, the PNLT plans to raise the price of a cigarette pack to 13 euros by 2027 (from an average of 11 euros at present) and to extend smoke-free zones to beaches, parks, forests and the outskirts of public places.
The Health Minister also wants to “act at the European Union and Member State level to better harmonise tax policy and reduce price differentials.” At the same time, Loïc Josseran, president of ACT-Alliance contre le tabac, stated the following:
“While we are pleased that the government has listened to our concerns […] notably by adopting a ban on puffs, the introduction of plain packs for other vaping products and the widespread introduction of smoke-free areas, we regret the lack of political courage shown by the absence of a genuine tax trajectory.”
Increased taxation as a way to combat smoking has been consistently supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Commission. According to the latest Eurobarometer, higher taxation has proven effective in most EU countries as smoking rates have decreased. The same is valid for France, which more than two years ago became the first EU country to introduce higher (€6.61) than the EU average (€3.34) excise duties on tobacco products.
According to the data, smoking prevalence in France has fallen from 29.4 per cent in 2016 to 24 per cent in 2019. However, research by the tobacco industry reveals that France’s lack of coordination with neighbouring countries on tobacco taxation has led to increased illicit tobacco trade and cross-border purchases.
In France, smoking causes 75,000 deaths per year, or 200 deaths per day, making it the leading cause of preventable deaths.
