The Polish Legal Development Forum warns that nicotine bags have long been unregulated since they entered the Polish market in 2020, making them easily accessible to teenagers. The current parliament is reviewing the revised relevant regulations, which are proposed to prohibit minors from purchasing, restrict sales channels, and set health warnings and upper limits on nicotine content. Although the EU’s technical notification process has been completed, the organization is concerned that lawmakers amending the bill may cause a legislative delay.
Key points:
- Polish nicotine bags have been in the Polish market since 2020. Over the past five years, they have remained unregulated, and teenagers can legally purchase them.
- The latest draft legislation proposes to set an upper limit on nicotine concentration, issue health warnings for packaging, and prohibit online and automated sales.
- The Ministry of Finance estimates that the nicotine bag market will expand rapidly and is expected to bring 170 million zlotys (approximately 45 million US dollars) in tax revenue to the country within three years.
- The legislation has passed the EU’s technical notification period, but experts are concerned that political maneuvers may continue to delay the implementation of the regulations.
Poland proposes legislation to fully regulate nicotine pouches
According to a report by Biznes. Newseria on May 7th, recently, Forum Prawo dla Rozwoju of the Polish Legal Development Forum called for prompt legislation to regulate the nicotine bag market, pointing out that since this product entered the Polish market in 2020, it has not been effectively regulated for five consecutive years, posing a substantive threat to public health. The organization emphasized that a comprehensive set of regulations covering elements such as nicotine content limits, sales channel management, and packaging and labeling obligations should be established as soon as possible, with particular emphasis on restricting teenagers’ exposure.
According to Konrad Hennig, the project director of the organization, although the think tank put forward regulatory suggestions as early as the early stage of the product’s launch, including imposing consumption taxes, prohibiting minors from purchasing, and setting an upper limit on each pack of nicotine, successive governments have not responded, resulting in the current situation where nicotine bags can be legally purchased in physical stores, the Internet, and vending machines. And there is no age verification or quantity limit. He pointed out that this situation “is not only uncommon but also unexpected”.
As it does not contain tobacco components and its usage method is different from that of burning tobacco, nicotine bags are currently not included in the “Law on the Protection of Hazards from Tobacco Products and Tobacco Substitutes”, nor are they within the scope of vape regulation. Therefore, under the current legal system, there are no mandatory standards that impose constraints on its nicotine content, composition, or advertising behavior.
The legislation has passed the EU’s technical notification period
At present, the Polish parliament is advancing the review of a new bill, which is proposed to bring nicotine bags under regulation. The relevant draft has completed the notification process of the EU’s technical legislation, which lasted for three months. During this period, the European Commission did not raise any substantive objections. According to the legislative plan, on May 7th. The parliamentary Health Committee will officially review the case. If passed smoothly, the regulation will be submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate and signed by the president.
The main contents of the draft include:
- The sale of nicotine bags to people under the age of 18 is prohibited.
- The online and automatic sale of nicotine bags is prohibited.
- Mandatory packaging and labeling of health warnings
- Limit the nicotine content of a single bag to no more than 20 milligrams per gram;
- The addition of any known carcinogens is prohibited.
Currently, the nicotine content in a single pack on the market can reach up to 50 milligrams, far exceeding that of traditional cigarettes, which has raised widespread concerns among experts about the risk of misuse.
Although the regulatory direction is clear. Hennessey expressed concerns about the progress of the bill. He pointed out that even after the completion of the EU technical notification, it is still possible for parliamentarians to propose amendments, thereby delaying the implementation of the regulations. He believes that such political operations are unnecessary. “The problem has been piled up for five years and there should be no more shirking of responsibility,” and “The basic version should be passed first and then optimized in the future.”
Conclusion
According to data from the Polish Ministry of Finance, the parliament approved a consumption tax on nicotine bags in October 2024, which is expected to bring 170 million zlotys (approximately 45 million US dollars) in tax revenue to the country within three years. Hennesch criticized that there was a conflict between fiscal orientation and public health goals. He pointed out that although the Ministry of Health claims to support the “all-category tobacco control” policy advocated by the World Health Organization, in actual operation, differentiated standards are adopted for different products. He called for avoiding “tax gaps” and “accessibility loopholes”, incorporating all nicotine-containing products into a unified regulatory system, and preventing the trend of marginalizing the management of entertainment-oriented consumer goods.
