Leaked EU tax draft ‘aims to stop smokers switching to vaping’, vape advocates warn
January 16, 2026
Photo: iStock
A leaked draft of the European Council’s updated Tobacco Excise Directive (TED) has sparked fresh anger among vaping advocates, who claim Brussels is still intent on taxing lower-risk nicotine alternatives in a way that could deter smokers from switching.
The draft, reported by Clearing the Air, suggests excise rates proposed for vaping products, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco are slightly lower than the European Commission’s plan published last summer – but campaigners argue the overall intent remains the same: narrowing the price gap with cigarettes.
Michael Landl, director of the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA), said the revised figures amount to little more than cosmetic change.
“They made a tiny step back on the numbers, but the direction is still completely wrong. Nicotine users are treated as cash machines. Slightly lower rates do not change the fact that this plan will keep people smoking and punish those who try to quit with less harmful alternatives.”
The WVA claims the most alarming element of the leaked text is the Council’s own stated rationale for the taxation approach. The draft reportedly says: “This approach also aims to discourage tax induced substitution between products.”
Landl said that wording amounts to an explicit attempt to block harm reduction.
“This means Brussels explicitly wants to stop smokers switching to vaping, pouches or heated tobacco. The Council’s draft says smokers should keep smoking cigarettes even if they can’t quit. This is the opposite of harm reduction. The goal of taxation must be to drive people to less harmful options, not block them.”
While the leaked version is said to reduce some of the numbers compared with earlier drafts, the WVA argues it would still leave e-liquids, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco facing a tax burden high enough to erode much of their cost advantage over combustible tobacco.
In practice, the group warns, that could make switching “less attractive”, particularly for smokers on lower incomes – the very demographic with the highest smoking rates and the greatest need for affordable, less harmful alternatives.
The WVA has urged EU member states to push back against the proposals in the Council draft and demand taxation aligned with harm reduction principles. The group argues that means vaping products, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco should face much lower excise rates than cigarettes – or none at all – so price signals encourage smokers to move away from combustible tobacco.
The leaked draft is the latest flashpoint in Europe’s wider debate over how nicotine products should be regulated and taxed.
Last month, the European Commission’s newly unveiled Safe Hearts Plan has invited criticism from harm reduction advocates who argued that it fails to properly distinguish between combustible tobacco and smoke-free nicotine products such as pouches.
EU health commissioner Olivér Várhelyi has also been accused of making inaccurate and potentially harmful remarks after he claimed that vaping, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco are “100 percent” as harmful as cigarettes.
