Brussels is preparing a revolution in nicotine regulations that will hit e-cigarettes much harder than traditional cigarettes. The European Commission is working on a new tobacco directive that will cover all nicotine products, not just those based on tobacco. At stake are EU-wide flavour bans, plain packaging and even a complete ban on disposable e-cigarette sales.
In 2026, the European Union is preparing for the biggest revision of tobacco and nicotine product regulations in a decade. The current Tobacco Directive from 2014, which banned menthol cigarettes and introduced health warnings on packaging, was created at a time when e-cigarettes were just emerging on the market. Today, the nicotine product market is unrecognisable – alongside traditional cigarettes, there are disposables, tobacco heaters, nicotine pouches and countless flavoured liquids that attract young people. EU regulators have concluded that the current legal framework is insufficient and have decided to act.
On 18 May 2026, the European Commission officially announced the start of the directive revision process, opening public consultations that will last until 14 August 2026. The aim is to create new, uniform rules that will cover all nicotine-containing products, regardless of their form – from traditional cigarettes to novel nicotine products. This is a fundamental paradigm shift: previous regulations focused on tobacco, now they are to cover nicotine as such.
The new approach assumes a departure from tobacco-based definitions in favour of technologically neutral definitions that will be able to cover any new nicotine product that appears on the market in the future. This is intended to prevent a situation where regulations are created with a delay and manufacturers find legal loopholes by introducing products that are not covered by any regulations. The European Commission also wants to harmonise rules on packaging, health warnings, advertising and promotion across all member states.
EU ban on e-cigarette flavours. The end of fruity and menthol liquids
One of the most controversial and far-reaching proposals is a total ban on flavours in e-cigarettes and other nicotine products. Current regulations only prohibit „characterising flavour” in cigarettes, which allowed the ban to be circumvented in the case of e-cigarettes. The new directive is to introduce blanket flavour bans, meaning a complete ban on all flavours except natural tobacco. This would mean the end of fruity, menthol, sweet and all other flavours that have been attracting young users to e-cigarettes for years.
In Poland, similar solutions are already being introduced at the national level. From 18 January 2026, flavoured tobacco inserts for heating devices disappeared from shops, and the government is working on further restrictions. The European Commission, however, wants the flavour ban to apply across the Union, which would require changing the directive at the European level. This idea, however, meets with resistance from some member states and MEPs, who argue that e-cigarettes are less harmful than traditional cigarettes and can help smokers quit the habit.
Disposable e-cigarettes have become a real plague in recent years, especially among young people. They are cheap, easily available, come in hundreds of flavours and quickly end up in the bin, generating mountains of e-waste. In response to this trend, the European Commission supports the introduction of a ban on disposable sales at the EU level.
Belgium was the first to introduce a ban on the sale of disposable e-cigarettes from the beginning of 2026, and the Netherlands and France have already implemented similar solutions. Poland has also moved in this direction. On 10 March 2026, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft law banning the sale of disposable e-cigarettes – both with and without nicotine. The ban also covers online sales, and violation is punishable by a fine of up to PLN 200,000. The new regulations also provide for increased control of e-cigarette composition by the Sanitary and Trade Inspectorates, which will be able to commission laboratory tests of liquids and emissions from these devices.
Nicotine tax divides Europe. Parliament rejected radical increases
Alongside work on the tobacco directive, the European Commission is trying to push through a reform of EU excise rules that would significantly increase taxes on nicotine products. The minimum excise duty on a pack of cigarettes in the EU would double – from €1.8 to €3.6. In practice, this would mean that a pack of cigarettes in Poland could cost as much as around PLN 40.
These plans, however, met with strong opposition from the European Parliament. In June 2026, MEPs rejected the Commission’s proposal by a decisive majority – 439 against, 181 in favour. Although the vote was non-binding, its political significance is clear: Brussels currently does not have a mandate for radical tax increases on nicotine products. Furthermore, only 12 votes were missing for the adoption of an alternative proposal that assumed differentiation of taxation depending on the health risk level of a given product. This would mean that less harmful products, such as e-cigarettes, could be taxed lower than traditional cigarettes.
Poland between Brussels and its own market. Will new regulations hit the budget?
For Poland, the new regulations have enormous significance. Poland is one of the largest e-cigarette markets in Europe, and excise duty revenues on tobacco products constitute a significant part of the state budget. On the other hand, Poland is also a country where the cigarette black market is particularly developed – illegal cigarettes already account for a significant share of the market.
Finance Minister Andrzej Domański declared that Poland is not putting pressure on the European Commission to speed up work on the tobacco directive. At the same time, work is underway in Poland on its own regulations to tighten the e-cigarette taxation system. In 2025, excise duty on cigarettes was increased by 25 percent, and on e-cigarette liquids by as much as 75 percent. Further increases are planned for 2026.
Experts warn, however, that overly restrictive regulations may have the opposite effect to that intended. As MEP Elżbieta Łukacijewska notes, drastic price increases may create a black market rather than eliminate it. Smokers and users of other nicotine products will look for cheaper alternatives, which means turning to supplies from the black market, to products of unknown origin and with untested content.
The European Union therefore faces a difficult task: how to reconcile public health protection with market realities and avoid an uncontrolled growth of the black market. The revision of the tobacco directive is to last until the end of 2026, and its shape will depend on whether a compromise can be reached between supporters of radical restrictions and defenders of consumer and producer rights. One thing is certain: e-cigarettes will never again be sold as freely as they have been so far.
Fot. Pixabay
